Arpeggiato

As Printed on a Score

Printed over a chord or passage to be spread, alone or in phrases such as arpeggiato con molto sentimento; in piano music it often reinforces the wavy-line sign. It holds for the passage it heads, until a new texture or a non-arpeggio bracket.

Also spelled: arpeggiando

How Composers Use It

The participle stresses manner rather than figure: chords rolled with expressive time, not a written-out broken-chord pattern. Use it when the spreading itself is part of the character, as Liszt does in Harmonies du soir; for a fixed pattern, write the notes. Arpeggiando is used the same way, especially in string parts for chords broken across the strings.

Example

Liszt, Transcendental Études, S. 139, No. 11 (“Harmonies du soir”), piano, m. 24: “arpeggiato con molto sentimento.” at f, beside “un poco animato.”

Related Terms