In music, sotto voce (, ; ) is a dramatic lowering of the vocal or instrumental volume—not necessarily ''
pianissimo
In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpretation by the performer dependin ...
'', but a definitely hushed tonal quality.
Examples of sotto voce include:
* In
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
's
Ave verum corpus, K. 618, where it is the only dynamic marked, at the beginning of all choral and instrumental parts.
* In the sung parts in
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
's
Requiem, K. 626, particularly the
Dies irae sequence:
** In the ''Tuba mirum'' movement, during the 'sighing' line 'Cum vix justus' ('When the just may hardly (be sure)'), when the four soloists sing together for the first time. Later, the line is reprised with syncopation in ''forte''.
** In the ''Confutatis'' movement, during the line 'Voca me cum benedictis' ('Call me with the blessed'), sung by the soprano and alto parts in the chorus, in stark contrast with the preceding lines sung by the tenors and basses 'Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis' ('Once the cursed have been silenced, sentenced to acrid flames...').
** In
Franz Xaver Süssmayr
Franz Xaver Süssmayr (German: ''Franz Xaver Süßmayr'', or ''Suessmayr'' in English; 1766 – September 17, 1803) was an Austrian composer and conductor. Popular in his day, he is now known primarily as the composer who completed Wolfgang Amad ...
's completion of the ''
Lacrimosa
The ''Lacrimosa'' (Latin for " weeping/tearful"), also a name that derives from ''Our Lady of Sorrows'', a title given to The Virgin Mary, is part of the Dies Irae sequence in the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass. Its text comes from the Latin 18th an ...
'' movement. Mozart drafted the initial eight bars, starting in ''piano'' for the first three lines of the stanza, before finishing in ''forte'' after a half-bar ''crescendo'' with the lines 'judicandus homo reus' ('the guilty man who is to be judged'). Süssmayr continues on with a reprisal of the opening line 'Lacrimosa dies illa' ('Tearful (will be) that day') in ''sotto voce''.
* At the beginning of the third movement of
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
's
String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132, in which the strings play with a hushed quality before later playing with renewed strength.
* The second part of
Chopin's
Nocturne in C minor, Op 48 No 1, which is marked ''sotto voce e sostenuto''; this is used to 'hold back the drama and keep us in suspense'.
References
External links
Singing techniques
Musical notation
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