Meaning & use
Sostenuto
Last updated
As a musical direction: sustained, with notes held for their full value and smoothly connected.
See it in a sentence
The conductor marked the passage sostenuto to draw out its emotional weight.
She played the final chord sostenuto, letting it ring until it faded.
A note on using this word
Italian for 'sustained'; it is also the name of the middle pedal on a grand piano, which sustains only the notes already being held down.
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