Attacco
In music, attacco (from Italian attaccare 'to unite, to bind together') indicates a short phrase, treated as a point of imitation; and employed, either as the subject of a fugue, as a subordinate element introduced for the purpose of increasing the interest of its development, as a leading feature in a motet, madrigal, full anthem, or other choral composition, or as a means of relieving the monotony of an otherwise too homogeneous part-song. Attacco (It.) (Lit., a binding together.) A 'point' of imitation—that is, any short passage or figure proposed for treatment by imitation.