stretti

Stretti is the Italian plural form of stretto, a word that means narrow or tight. In geographical usage, stretto denotes a strait or narrow sea passage that connects two larger bodies of water; stretti refers to multiple such passages. A well-known example is the Stretto di Messina, the strait between Sicily and the Italian mainland, which connects the Tyrrhenian Sea with the Ionian Sea.

In music theory, stretto is a contrapuntal technique used especially in fugues and canons. It describes a point at which the subject or motif enters again before the previous entry has ended, producing overlapping statements and increased density. The plural form stretti can be used when discussing multiple instances of this technique within a single work or in reference to the style in general.

The term is primarily used in Italian-language contexts, but it appears in English-language musicology and geography as well. While stretto is a specialized term, stretti may arise in discussions of river deltas, coastal navigation, or classical music analysis where multiple stretto passages are noted.