Dolce

Soft and sweet

“Dolce” is the Italian word for “sweet” and goes back to the Latin “dulcis”. As a performance direction it is rendered “soft, sweet, gentle”. The direction concerns the sound: the tone should begin softly and sound without harshness. Its musical meaning is understood in slightly different ways: on the one hand “soft, sweet, gentle”, on the other a passage played quietly and delicately. The word itself does not fix a volume.

Dolce in the score

The word is written in italics below or above the staff, at the point where the soft section begins. The three sheets from the archive show how different the context can be.

Piano

• Sonatina in C major, 1st movement: Allegro Friedrich Kuhlau, op. 20 No. 1 · piano · 2 pages

  On page 1, from bar 17, “p” is written under the first note of the right hand and below it “dolce” (in italics), 4/4 time, no key signature. A second “dolce” is in bar 32, directly after the repeat sign. In between, bar 24 has an f.

Guitar

• An Alexis Felix Horetzky, No. 48 · German melody, setting for guitar · 1 page

  “Andantino”, 3/4 time, two sharps, with chord symbols. Bar 12 has a fermata; after it, in bar 13 on the third beat, “dolce.” (in italics) is written below the staff. The section before contains a “rit:”; in bar 18 there is sf.

Voice and piano

• Après un rêve Gabriel Fauré · voice and piano, with chords for guitar · 2 pages

  “Andantino”, 3/4 time, three flats. The piano has pp, and the voice enters in bar 2: the first note is marked “dolce” (in italics), followed by a crescendo hairpin.

In Kuhlau, “dolce” marks a new section in which p also appears. In Horetzky it follows a fermata and a section with “rit:”, and the music begins again afterwards, softly. In Fauré it is at the entry of the voice, together with a crescendo hairpin.

Dolce and piano

Piano is a dynamic marking and names a volume, while dolce names a character. In Kuhlau both are written at the same note; in Fauré dolce goes with a hairpin, so the tone grows louder. Reading only “quiet” gives you the right dynamic, but not yet the intended sound.

Common mistakes

• Equating dolce with piano: The word describes above all the sound; the volume is given by the dynamic marking.
• Playing too weakly: Soft does not mean limp; the tone should carry.
• Holding on too long: The direction applies from the point where it is written until the character changes.