Attacca

The movement ends, the piece goes on

Many works consist of several movements, with a short pause between them as a rule. “Attacca” takes this pause away. The word is written at the end of a movement and is a direction to the players: the next movement follows at once, without interruption. It comes from the verb “attaccare”, which in music means “to begin playing”. The addition “subito” (immediately, see Subito) reinforces the demand once more.

Attacca in Beethoven

One example in the sheet music archive is at the end of the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata.

Piano

• Mondscheinsonate, 1. Satz Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor, op. 27 No. 2 · piano · 5 pages

  Page 5, last line of music (bars 66 to 69): Under the piano staves, in italics, is “attacca subito il seguente” on two lines, beginning under bar 68, preceded by pp. Bar 69 is the final bar, a sustained chord with a fermata and a final barline. The sheet contains only this first movement.

The movement fades away in pp and ends on a chord with a fermata. A fermata holds a note or chord longer than written (see Fermata). Between two movements there is otherwise a pause. The direction underneath takes it away: the next movement starts straight away. The archive holds only the first movement; what comes after is not there.

Distinctions

• Fermata: It stretches a note. Attacca governs what happens afterwards. Both can appear together at the end of a movement, as in Beethoven.
• General pause: It is a deliberate, notated silence within the piece. Attacca, by contrast, asks that no silence arises between two movements.
• Segue: This word, too, asks for playing on without interruption.

Common mistakes

• Lifting off or repositioning your hand after the fermata: With attacca the next movement begins immediately.
• Confusing attacca with a tempo word: It says nothing about speed, only about the connection.
• Looking for attacca at the start of a movement: The direction is written at the end of the movement that finishes first.