Fortississimo

As Printed on a Score

Printed below the staff as fff; the word itself is almost never written out. It stands until the next dynamic, so a dim., hairpin or new letter ends it, and long tutti passages sometimes repeat it or add sempre.

Abbreviations: fff

How Composers Use It

Use fff for the true peak of a piece or movement, and leave room beneath it: once every climax is fff, the marking describes nothing. Louder playing changes colour — brass brighten and edge, strings dig in, timpani dominate — so balance the orchestration rather than relying on the letters; a thinly scored fff will not sound loud. Some Romantic composers, Tchaikovsky among them, go further to ffff for a single moment.

Example

Bruckner, Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, finale, flute 1, m. 381: “fff” beside “sempre”; the first violins and basses carry the same fff in that bar.

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