Molto dolce

As Printed on a Score

Printed beside the dynamic, usually p or pp, in the parts that carry the line; in orchestral scores it is repeated in each part concerned. It holds for the phrase or passage until a new character direction.

How Composers Use It

Molto dolce intensifies dolce without reaching dolcissimo’s extremity: very sweet and soft, warm rather than whispered. In the third movement of Brahms’s Second Symphony the strings receive it while the surrounding winds are marked pp — a request for tenderness of tone alongside a quiet texture. It is a useful middle step; reserve dolcissimo for the extreme.

Example

Brahms, Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73, third movement, violins and violas, m. 225: “molto dolce”, with the oboe, clarinets and bassoons marked pp in the same bar.

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