Ligato

As Printed on a Score

Printed above or below the staff exactly as legato would be, often at the start of a song or piece and in compounds (sempre ligato, molto ligato). It governs the passage until a contrasting articulation is printed.

How Composers Use It

Not a different instruction but an older spelling, familiar from Schubert’s songs and piano music; read it as legato. A composer today has no reason to write it, but anyone editing or quoting such music should keep the spelling as printed rather than silently modernising it.

Example

Schubert, Winterreise, D. 911, “Frühlingstraum”, piano, m. 27: “ligato” at pp, directly after the ff of the bar before.

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