A couple of violins and a bass-fiddle were being tuned behind the curtains of the stage; the old gentleman's heart beat with expectation; and when all at once the orchestra struck up the Ritornello of his work, he felt an electric thrill tingling in every nerve.
"Weird Tales. Vol. I"
E. T. A. Hoffmann
But if we, with spring-days mellow, Wake to woeful wrecks of change, And the sparrow's Ritornello Scaling still its old sweet range; Can we do a better thing Than, with him, still build and sing?
"Rose and Roof-Tree Poems"
George Parsons Lathrop
What it probably did was to repeat as a sort of Ritornello the clearly marked refrain of the song.
"Some Forerunners of Italian Opera"
William James Henderson