da capo aria

A distinctive type of vocal piece for a single voice (though duets and other ensemble pieces may be in the same form) consisting of three sections, the third of which is a repetition of the first, while the middle section is a contrast based sometimes on similar and sometimes on wholly different thematic material. The da capo aria was cultivated in the second half of the 17th and first half of the 18th century (up to the earlier works of Christoph Willibald von Gluck), notably by Alessandro Scarlatti, Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Hasse, and Niccolò Jommelli.