Bisbigliando

What it means

Bisbigliando means “whispering” and denotes a manner of playing the harp: the same few notes are repeated very quietly and very quickly, alternating between both hands, so that no single stroke can be heard out any more. A trembling, blurred band of sound arises. Unlike the tremolo of the strings, it lives not from bow pressure but from the density of the strokes and from the strings vibrating on undamped.

In the notation

Usually a chord of two to four notes is notated, provided with tremolo strokes on the stem or a wavy line, together with the word bisbigliando. Frequently the instruction stands together with a very quiet dynamic and an indication of the register in which to play. The number of repetitions is not fixed; what is called for is a state of sound, not a rhythmically counted figure.

Musical use

The manner of playing belongs to the sound stock of orchestral music since the late nineteenth century and is used there where a sound is to float, shimmer or dissolve — under sustained wind chords, behind a solo melody, at the end of a quiet section. It carries scarcely any loudness and is therefore almost always sparingly accompanied, or it is lost. In chamber music with harp it often takes on the role of a shimmering background, comparable to the string tremolo but more bodiless.

Performance practice

Choose notes that lie close together and are comfortably reachable for both hands; large spans make the whispering uneven. Play with the fingertips near the middle of the strings, where the sound is softer and poorer in overtones. What counts is evenness, not speed: a somewhat slower, wholly even bisbigliando sounds calmer than a hectic one with audible single strokes. Check the pedal setting beforehand, for during the playing no change is possible without disturbing the sound. To end it, let the motion run out and damp only when the next sound already stands.

Remember that the effect depends strongly on the register: in the middle range the whispering sounds full and carrying, in the high range fine and scarcely locatable, in the low range slightly muffled. Choose the notes accordingly when the score leaves latitude. Reckon with a lead-in time until the sound stands, and begin therefore earlier than notated. Check the pedal setting before the entry, because a change while sounding becomes audible, and plan the end as a transition rather than as a cutting-off.