The patter song is a staple of comic opera. It is typically a solo for bass or baritone (with or without choral interjection), characterized by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note (there are few or no melismatic passages). The text often features tongue-twisting rhyming text, with alliterative words that are intended to be entertaining to listen to at rapid speed, and the accompaniment is generally lightly orchestrated and fairly simple, to emphasize the text.