Disperato

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff at the passage it colours, as disperato, disperatamente or con disperazione; it lasts for that passage, until a new character word.

Also spelled: disperatamente, con disperazione

How Composers Use It

Desperation is a character word for extreme moments: urgent pressure, heavy accents, tone pushed to the edge. Liszt uses it in the Transcendental Études, and Romantic song composers at the dramatic turn of a text. Because it is so strong, reserve it for one point in a piece and let the dynamics and the writing carry the intensity; the word alone cannot.

Example

Liszt, Transcendental Étude No. 10 in F minor, m. 126: “disperato”, in a study headed “Allegro agitato molto.”