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To fade, to damp; as in con suono smorzare.
The infinitive is rare on scores; the usual form is smorzando (smorz.), printed below the staff. When the infinitive does appear, as in con suono smorzare, it applies to the phrase it marks.
Smorzare means to damp or extinguish, so the family of words describes a sound fading or muffled, not just a diminuendo. For a phrase end that dies away, write smorzando; for a restrained, muted tone throughout a phrase, mezza voce or sotto voce say it more idiomatically.
Mahler, Kindertotenlieder, “Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n!”, voice, m. 11: “con suono smorzare” beside the German “mit verhaltener Stimme”, a bar after a pp.
Smorzare is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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