Arpeggio

As Printed on a Score

As a word it is printed over a passage — sempre arpeggio, or arpeggio over a run of string chords — and lasts until the texture changes. A single chord to be spread is shown instead by a vertical wavy line before it, with an arrowhead if the direction matters; a bracket before the chord means do not spread.

Abbreviations: arp.

How Composers Use It

On keyboard and harp a spread chord softens the attack and lets a wide chord sound when the hand cannot cover it. Over string chords, arpeggio asks the player to break them across the strings in a pattern — as in the arpeggio passage of Bach’s D minor Chaconne — so write the pattern out once and let simile carry it. Say whether the spread falls before or on the beat if the timing matters.

Example

Liszt, Transcendental Études, S. 139, No. 11 (“Harmonies du soir”), piano, m. 145: “sempre arpeggio.”, two bars after “dolce, armonioso.” — every chord in the passage is to be spread.

Related Terms