Con luminosità

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff at the passage it colours, usually at a climax beside a loud dynamic; it lasts for that passage, until the next character word. Printed without its accent (con luminosita) it is the same marking.

Also spelled: con luminosita

How Composers Use It

Luminosity: a radiant, ringing sound — open voicing, brilliant register, sustained resonance. Scriabin uses it at climaxes where loudness should glow rather than strike. It is a colour word, so the dynamic must be marked separately, and the writing should help: wide spacing, octaves in the treble, pedal that lets the overtones ring.

Example

Scriabin, Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 53, m. 417: “con luminosità” at ff, after a run of sf accents in the bars before.