Corona

As Printed on a Score

A reader almost always meets the sign — an arc with a dot over a note, rest or barline — rather than the word, which appears mainly in Italian prefaces and teaching texts. Over the phrase ends of a chorale it marks the end of a line of text and need not mean a long hold.

How Composers Use It

Corona is simply the Italian name for the fermata, so everything about the fermata applies: the hold is unmeasured and context sets its length. Over a rest it makes a silence; over the final barline it marks an ending; over the tonic six-four chord in a Classical concerto it signals the soloist’s cadenza. Add lunga or a duration when the length matters.

Related Terms