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Rapid repetition of a single note (measured or unmeasured) or rapid alternation between two notes. A fundamental string orchestra texture.
Most tremolos are drawn rather than written: slashes through a note’s stem repeat it (three slashes usually mean unmeasured, as fast as possible; fewer mean counted repetitions), and slashes between two notes make a fingered tremolo. “trem.” is printed to confirm the effect or to start a run of it, and it lasts as long as the slashes do.
Abbreviations: trem., trem
String tremolo creates excitement, tension, or sustained texture. Bowed tremolo (rapid bow strokes on one note) is the standard accompaniment texture for dramatic passages. Fingered tremolo (alternating between two notes) creates a shimmering effect. Tremolo at pianissimo creates atmospheric tension; at fortissimo, overwhelming power.
Mahler, Symphony No. 5, first movement, first violins, m. 23: “trem.” at ff, three bars after the strings strike with the bow (“mit dem Bogen geschlagen”), the dynamic falling to p in the next bar.
Tremolo is one of 1760 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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