Voce

As Printed on a Score

Labels a solo vocal staff in Italian scores (Voce; plural Voci), though Canto is also common there. Inside directions it means voice or part: a 3 voci (in three parts), sotto voce (under the voice, hushed), mezza voce (half voice), colla voce (follow the singer).

Abbreviations: Vo.

Also spelled: Voci

How Composers Use It

In counterpoint voce means a part rather than a singer: a fugue a tre voci has three independent lines, whatever plays them. In a direction it usually describes a quality of sound — sotto voce and mezza voce ask for restrained tone and are as common in piano and string music as in songs. Colla voce, written in an accompaniment, tells the players to follow the singer’s rubato.

Example

Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106 (“Hammerklavier”), fourth movement, m. 22: “Fuga a tre voci con alcune licenze” — a three-part fugue “with some licences”, where voci means contrapuntal lines, not singers.

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