[2] For 18th-century composers, cantabile is often synonymous with "cantando" (singing) and indicates a measured tempo and flexible, legato playing.
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 piece by Harry James & His Orchestra, called "Trumpet Blues and Cantabile".
The cantabile movement would be slower and more free-form to contrast with the structured and generally faster cabaletta.
8 "in moda d'una scena cantata," "in the manner of a sung [operatic] scene"; opera arias exerted a strong influence on the "singable" cantabile melodic line in Romantic writing for stringed instruments.