Delicatamente

As Printed on a Score

Printed beside the dynamic, usually pp, at a light passage or a change of texture, and in running instructions where an adverb reads naturally. It colours the passage until the next character direction.

How Composers Use It

Delicatamente is the adverb of delicato and asks for the same thing — lightness, refinement, soft-edged articulation. Grammatically it fits a sentence about how to play, which is why it turns up in running instructions; in practice the two are interchangeable. Liszt uses it for feather-light passagework in his concert études. Pair it with a dynamic, and do not mark it over material that needs a strong bass.

Example

Liszt, “Waldesrauschen” (2 Konzertetüden, S. 145, No. 1), piano, m. 34: “delicatamente.” at pp, two bars after “cantando.”

Related Terms