Sempre diminuendo

As Printed on a Score

Printed below the staff as sempre dim. or dim. sempre, usually partway through a fading passage to keep it going. It continues until a new dynamic, often a più dim. or the pp where the fading settles.

Abbreviations: sempre dim., dim. sempre

How Composers Use It

Keeps a decline moving: players tend to level off once they reach p, and sempre dim. asks them not to. Beethoven uses it to drain the energy from a passage in stages, sometimes following it with più dim. Use it for retreats and long closes, and mark the final level so the fade has a floor.

Example

Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 in F major (“Pastoral”), fourth movement, oboe 1, m. 126: “sempre dim.” as the storm subsides, followed by p and then “più dim.” at pp.

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