[It. finale adj. (used subst.):—L. fīnālem: see prec.]
1. Music. a. ‘The last movement of a symphony, sonata, concerto, or other instrumental composition.’ b. ‘The piece of music with which any of the acts of an opera are brought to a close’ (Grove).
[1724. Explic. Foreign Words in Music, 31. Fin, Finis, or Finale, is the End or last Note of a Piece of Mustick.]
1783. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, 1 Jan. The conclusion [of the opera] is a long historical finale.
1784. New Spect., No. 21. 3/2. Several of them [the new airs] were encored, as was the finale.
1800. Mrs. Hervey, The Mourtray Family, II. 147. He has treated me with the overture of the piece, already, in a very sharp key; and, I suppose, we shall have a grand finale at home.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., ii. The finale concluded, the dancers promenaded the room.
1866. Engel, Nat. Mus., i. 10. Weber, in his ‘Oberon,’ has introduced in the Finale of the first act, an Arabian melody, brought from the East by the traveller Niebuhr.
1875. Ouseley, Mus. Form, x. 51. A fugue on the original theme will often make a good finale to a set of variations.
fig. 1810. Bentham, The Elements of the Art of Packing (1821), 57 note. This the finale of his praises, sounded in his ears, in such dulcet accents, by his sergeant trumpeter … Sir James Burrow.
2. The last scene or closing part of a drama or any other public entertainment.
1814. Byron, Let., 14 Feb., in Moore, Life. It doubtless gratifies me much that our finale has pleased, and that the curtain drops gracefully.
1851. Longf., in Life (1891), II. 209. Scherb has promised to read his lecture on Faust by way of finale, next Tuesday.
3. The conclusion, end; the final catastrophe.
1785. Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Juv. Indiscr. (1786), II. 114. Her finale of the matter was, that [etc.].
1816. Gentl. Mag., LXXXVI. I. 60/2. Both in the real battle, and this imitation, we are most pleased with the finale.
1821. Syd. Smith, Wks. (1859), I. 340/1. It seems to us no bad finale of the pious labours of those who guard the poor from ill-treatment during their imprisonment, to take care that they are not unjustly hanged at the expiration of the term.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 166. The natives remembered the crucifixion of 3,000 of their countrymen, the finale of their partial and unsuccessful attempt at revolt during the invasion of Regulus.
