Patetico

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as a character word, alone or after a tempo word, at the start of a movement or section, setting an emotional tone until the next character word. The feminine patetica appears where it agrees with a feminine noun, as in a title such as “Sonata patetica”.

Also spelled: patetica

How Composers Use It

Patetico asks for pathos: music that moves through elevated, often tragic feeling, in the spirit of the pathétique that names Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 13 and Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony. It implies weight and seriousness of expression rather than a speed, so give it a tempo word. Because it names an effect on the listener rather than a way of playing, players read it broadly; a more concrete word such as doloroso or appassionato gives clearer direction.

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