Malinconico

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as a character word, alone or after a tempo word, at the head of a movement or section; it governs mood only, until the next character word. The spelling varies: melancolico is an older form, and Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder prints malincolico.

Also spelled: malincolico, Melancolico

How Composers Use It

Malinconico names a reflective, brooding sadness: gentler and more inward than doloroso (pain) or lamentoso (lament), and less resigned than mesto. It invites a restrained, veiled tone and unhurried phrasing rather than outward grief. As a heading it suits pieces whose sadness lies in the harmony and line themselves; there is no need to stack further sad words beside it, which only blur the instruction.

Example

Mahler, Kindertotenlieder, “Wenn dein Mütterlein”, voice, m. 1: “Grave, malincolico”, spelled this way in the edition and printed with the German “Schwer, dumpf”.

Related Terms