Ricercar

A ricercar ( REE-chər-KAR, Italian: [ritʃerˈkar]) or ricercare ( REE-chər-KAR-ay, Italian: [ritʃerˈkaːre]) is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term ricercar derives from the Italian verb ricercare, which means "to search out; to seek"; many ricercars serve a preludial function to "search out" the key or mode of a following piece. A ricercar may explore the permutations of a given motif, and in that regard may follow the piece used as illustration. The term is also used to designate an etude or study that explores a technical device in playing an instrument, or singing.