Perdendo

As Printed on a Score

Printed below the staff, often as sempre perdendo, over the bars where the sound fades. It describes a process and ends at the next dynamic, frequently a pp, or at a change of texture such as pizz.

How Composers Use It

Losing itself: the sound drains away rather than simply getting softer, and players often let the tempo ease with it. Perdendo and perdendosi are the same idea; use either for endings and dissolving transitions. When a whole ensemble is to fade, mark every part, as Beethoven does — a collective fade needs every voice told.

Example

Beethoven, Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, second movement (Adagio), violas, m. 94: “perdendo”, a bar after the rest of the orchestra’s “sempre perdendo”; pp and pizz. follow two bars later.

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