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A closing passage taken at an increased speed.
Printed above the staff at the start of a closing section — Stretta, or in a phrase such as Stretta quasi Presto — and lasts to the end or to the next tempo word. Opera scores also use it as the name of the fast last part of an ensemble or aria.
A stretta is a planned acceleration of the whole close: faster tempo, shorter phrases, driving repetitions of the cadence. Italian opera finales and ensembles often end with one, and Liszt borrows the word for virtuoso codas. Do not confuse it with stretto, the overlapping of fugal entries, though both crowd the material together. Prepare it with a stringendo if the speed should arrive by degrees.
Liszt, Transcendental Étude No. 10 in F minor, m. 160: “Stretta.”, one bar after “precipitato”.
Stretta 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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