Con amore

As Printed on a Score

Printed beside a dynamic or above a vocal line at the phrase it colours, or attached to a tempo word. It needs no cancelling word: the next character or tempo marking replaces it.

How Composers Use It

Con amore asks for devoted warmth and full commitment to the line — more fervent than dolce, less sensuous than amoroso. Because the phrase is everyday Italian for doing something gladly and with care, it can read as “lovingly” as much as “with love”; context decides. Use it at a lyrical turn in a song or for a melody you want sung out, and let the dynamic carry the volume.

Example

Bizet, “Adieux à Suzon”, voice, m. 97: “con amore”, printed on its own in a song headed “Allegro moderato.”

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