Rinforzando

As Printed on a Score

Printed below the staff as rinf., rinforz., rfz or rf, sometimes as the full word. It strengthens a single note, chord or short group — wider in scope than sf — and then the music returns to its level unless a new dynamic follows; più rinforz. and rinforz. molto increase it further.

Abbreviations: rinf., rinforz., rf, rfz

Also spelled: rinforzato

How Composers Use It

Rinforzando sits between an accent and a crescendo: a sudden reinforcement of a few notes or a short phrase, often with more weight and less bite than sf. Italian opera composers and Liszt use it for swelling emphasis on a melodic peak, and in Liszt rinforz. can drive a whole figure forward like an urgent short crescendo. Make the span clear — one note or a slurred group — or players will guess.

Example

Liszt, Transcendental Étude No. 4 (“Mazeppa”), m. 101: “rinforz.”, printed with an f.

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