fortissimo
/fɔːˈtɪsɪməʊ
/Music
adverb & adjective
(Especially as a direction) very loud or loudly: the movement ends with a fortissimo coda...
- Polk's coloration, her contrasts between pianissimo and fortissimo moments, are similar to Sviatoslav Richter's rendition of César Franck's Piano Quintet.
- Mendelssohn uses the 6/8 time to introduce a theme which is not Scottish at all and finishes fortissimo.
- The D minor fortissimo outburst at letter C always reminds me of Moses on the Mount admonishing Aaron and the sinners below.
noun (plural fortissimos or fortissimi /fɔːˈtɪsɪmi/)
A passage performed or marked to be performed very loudly: Tchaikovsky’s fortissimos are given plenty of weight in the bass...
- His touch could be warm, deep, full, and broad in the fortes, and not hard even in the fortissimos; and his pianos, always of carrying power, could be as round and transparent as a dewdrop.
- Very sensitive was his Verschwiegene Nachtigall and Ein Traum was truly a dream of a performance, with a good fortissimo that was only topped by the immense applause that accompanied the end of the first quarter.
- The sudden fortissimo in the middle section is probably Janacek storming off in another of his enormous huffs.
Origin
Italian, from Latin fortissimus 'very strong'.