Stringendo

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as string. or the full word, usually with a dashed line, and often with molto, poco or cresc. e stringendo. It ends at the next tempo word or at the climax it drives into — often a ff with a new tempo or a broadening word such as pesante or allargando.

Abbreviations: string.

How Composers Use It

Stringendo (from "stringere," to tighten) implies not just acceleration but increasing tension and urgency. Use it in passages where the music should feel like it is being compressed — driving toward a climax with mounting pressure.

Example

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”), fourth movement (Adagio lamentoso), flute 1, m. 109: “stringendo molto” launches a crescendo across the orchestra that arrives, five bars later, at “pesante”.

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