Il canto

As Printed on a Score

Printed inside a longer direction — marcato il canto, il canto espressivo, accentuato il canto — beside the line that carries the melody, usually in piano music; it lasts while that melody continues.

How Composers Use It

Naming il canto tells the performer which notes are the tune when the texture hides it — a melody in the thumbs among arpeggios, a tenor line in the left hand. Liszt uses it often in his virtuoso writing. Notate the melody clearly as well (separate stems, accents, its own dynamic), since the words alone do not identify which notes are meant.

Example

Liszt, Transcendental Étude No. 4 (“Mazeppa”), m. 84: “Il canto espressivo ed appassionato assai” — the melody to be singled out, expressive and very impassioned.

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