The term stretto (plural: stretti) comes from the Italian past participle of
stringere, and means "narrow", "tight", or "close". It applies in a close succession
of statements of the subject in a fugue, especially in the final section. In stretto,
the subject is presented in one voice and then imitated in one or more other
voices, with the imitation starting before the subject has finished. The subject is
therefore superimposed upon itself.
Commissioned by an occupant with a true appreciation for great architecture,
and given no limitations, the structure of Stretto House was greatly influenced
by its landscape. Adjacent to three spring-fed ponds with existing concrete
dams, the sound of overlapping water stayed with architect Steven Holl and
became the canvas for his melodic design. Holl admired the connections
between the traditional and the modern in Belta Bartók's “Music for Strings,
Percussion and Celesta,” written in 1936. The overlapping water he heard at
the site was like the overlapping of notes in Bartok’s piece, falling rhythmically
like the water on the property. The sound? Stretto notes.
Holl also wanted to also express that as music has materiality in instruments
and in sound, the architecture attempts an analogue in light and space. He
expresses idea as the equation: