Bravura

As Printed on a Score

Usually printed as con bravura, beside the dynamic or under a virtuoso passage, sometimes joined to energico or brillante in one direction. As a noun it also appears in titles (aria di bravura). It describes the manner of a passage and needs no cancelling word.

Also spelled: con bravura

How Composers Use It

Con bravura licenses display: bold, fearless playing with a little swagger, where the difficulty is meant to be heard. Liszt and Chopin attach it to passages that are already virtuosic, so the word adds attitude rather than instructions. In vocal music the aria di bravura is the 18th-century showpiece of runs and leaps. Reserve it for brilliant writing; on modest figuration it promises more than the notes deliver.

Example

Liszt, Transcendental Étude No. 5 (“Feux follets”), piano, m. 92: “energico, con bravura.”, set at f, with rinf. in each of the next two bars.

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