Songs Without Words
For 18th-century composers, "cantabile" is often synonymous with "cantando" (singing) and indicates a measured tempo and flexible, legato playing. For later composers, particularly in piano music, "cantabile" is the drawing out of one particular musical line against the accompaniment (compare counterpoint). Felix Mendelssohn's six books of " Songs Without Words" are short lyrical piano pieces with song-like melodies written between 1829 and 1845. A modern example is an instrumental by Harry James &amp; His Orchestra, called "Trumpet Blues and Cantabile".