Articolato
Performed with clear articulation.
What it means
Articolato calls for a clearly articulated performance: the notes are to be clearly set off from one another and well audible in their beginning. The word denotes no particular length but an attitude — what is meant is clarity, not shortness.
In this it differs from the markings that call for a fixed execution. Staccato prescribes playing the notes short and with a gap; non legato calls for a slight separation; marcato for an accented execution of every note. Articolato stands, as it were, above these markings: it says that the articulation should be audible at all, and leaves the means to the performer.
The term articulation itself denotes, in general, the way notes are set on, joined and ended — the equivalent of pronunciation in language.
In the notation
The word stands in italics above the staff at the point from which it holds, and works until a new marking. Unlike staccato dots or slurs, it refers not to individual notes but to a section. It frequently stands where the notation itself bears no articulation signs and the composer nevertheless wishes a particular manner of playing.
Musical use
The marking is used in sections whose structure is to stay audible: in polyphonic textures, in fast runs that easily blur, and in accompaniment figures that must not blend into a carpet of sound. It is also usual where an instrument plays in a low register and the notes would run into one another.
The marking often stands in fast passages.
Performance practice
Work at the beginnings of notes, not only at the ends: clarity arises above all from a clear attack. For wind players this means a more definite tonguing, for string players a clear bow change, at the piano a precise touch with clean release. Shorten the notes only as far as is necessary for the clarity. And check in the room whether the articulation carries — in reverberant rooms more of it is needed.