Legatissimo

As Printed on a Score

Printed above or below the staff at the start of the passage, often with a dynamic or dolce, and sometimes as sempre legatissimo. It governs the passage until a contrasting articulation word (non legato, staccato) or new texture; slurs still show phrasing, the word the degree of connection.

Abbreviations: legatiss.

How Composers Use It

As connected as possible: on the piano, overlapping finger legato and careful pedal; on strings, invisible bow changes; for winds, the lightest tonguing. Write it where slurs alone cannot say enough — long lines that cross bow changes or breaths, or a texture that should blur slightly. Pair it with a soft or moderate dynamic; at full volume the effect is hard to hear.

Example

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 in B minor (“Pathétique”), first movement, cellos, m. 201: “legatissimo” at p, two bars after a dim. from ff.

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