Tre corde

As Printed on a Score

Printed beneath the piano staff (tre corde, t.c.) where the soft pedal is released; it cancels una corda at once. Tutte le corde means the same, and some editions print either in parentheses as a reminder.

Abbreviations: t.c.

How Composers Use It

Mark the release as carefully as the una corda: the change of colour is audible, so place it where the music opens out — a crescendo, a new phrase, the return of the opening. Leave it out and the veiled tone runs on indefinitely. Beethoven, whose pianos could shift from one string to two or three, sometimes asked for the return gradually.

Example

Berlioz, Les nuits d’été, Op. 7, “Absence”, piano, m. 61: “tre corde”, four bars after “una corda” at m. 57.

Related Terms