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Meaning & use

dolce piano

phrase·Advancedmusictechnical

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UK/ˌdɒltʃeɪ piˈɑːnəʊ/
US/ˌdoʊltʃeɪ piˈɑːnoʊ/

Meanings

  1. phrasefixed phrasemusictechnical

    A musical instruction telling a player to play softly and in a sweet, gentle way.

    Grammar: Used as a direction in written music, so it appears on its own without a subject or object.

    Patterns

    • marked dolce piano
    • play dolce piano

    The opening bars are marked dolce piano, so the melody should float rather than sound firm.

    In the slow movement the strings play dolce piano while the soloist sings above them.

    Her teacher circled the words dolce piano and asked her to keep the tone warm and quiet.

  2. phraseuncountablemusictechnical

    A soft, sweet manner of playing, treated as a quality of a passage or performance.

    Grammar: Used as a noun-like phrase to talk about the effect, often after a preposition such as with or in.

    Patterns

    • with dolce piano
    • the dolce piano of something

    The pianist shaped the theme with real dolce piano, never letting a note turn hard.

    Critics praised the dolce piano of the closing pages.

Common combinations

marked dolce piano
The second theme is marked dolce piano in the score.
play dolce piano
She asked the orchestra to play dolce piano in the repeat.
dolce piano passage
He practiced the dolce piano passage slowly to keep the tone even.
dolce piano and legato
The direction dolce piano and legato asks for a smooth, quiet line.

Synonyms and how they differ

dolce
Used alone, dolce means 'sweetly' and says nothing about loudness, whereas dolce piano adds the idea of playing softly.
piano
Piano only tells you to play quietly; dolce piano also asks for a gentle, sweet tone.
sotto voce
Sotto voce means 'in a low voice' and often suggests a hushed, secret quality rather than sweetness.

Opposites

fortecon forza

Word family

pianissimo adverb
A direction to play very softly, softer than piano.
pianist noun
A person who plays the piano.
dolcezza noun
A musical term for sweetness of tone or expression.

Commonly confused: dolce piano or dolce far niente? dolce piano or piano?

dolce piano vs dolce far niente

This Italian phrase means pleasant idleness, not a musical direction, so it never appears in a score.

dolce piano vs piano

On its own, piano is the name of the instrument as well as a soft playing direction; dolce piano is only the playing direction.

Practice

In a score, what does the direction dolce piano tell the performer to do?

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