palindrome

Word, sentence, or verse that reads the same backwards as forwards (ignoring word breaks and punctuation). ‘Madam, in Eden, I'm Adam.’ ‘Ten animals I slam in a net.’

palindrome

In music, a piece constructed the same backwards as forwards, more or less loosely, as with the prelude and postlude in Paul Hindemith's Ludus tonalis, and his one-act opera Hin und zurück. Other examples are Act III of Alban Berg's Lulu or Béla Bartók's fifth string quartet. The procedure is that of recte et retro or rovescio, in which a second entry brings in the tune sung or played backwards, but on a larger scale.