Emphatic

What it means

Emphatisch calls for an emphatic, insistent performance. The word comes from rhetoric, where emphasis designates the special stressing of a word, and transfers this idea to music: a passage should be highlighted, as if it wanted to say something particularly clearly.

What is meant is a bundle of means: particular articulation, distinct accents, full tone production, occasionally also a small delay that gives room to the emphasis.

It differs from marcato, which accents every note, in that it means an attitude and not a type of articulation. It differs from risoluto, which asks for resoluteness, through its oratorical overtone: emphasis is addressed to a listener.

In the notation

The word stands above the staff at the beginning of the section concerned and applies until a new marking. It is often found together with accents, dotted rhythms, unison passages, and strong dynamics. In vocal music it stands over passages of text of particular weight.

Musical use

The designation is used in sections that assert or proclaim something: in closing turns, in recitatives with weighty text, in themes of a proclaiming character. The idea that music is built like a speech and should be delivered like a speech shapes music theory from the Baroque into the Viennese Classical period and stands behind instructions of this kind.

The marking demands an insistent, almost oratorical performance. Individual notes or chords are emphasized and played out weightily, often with small stretchings before important moments. It often stands at climaxes or in solemn sections. Its Italian equivalent is enfatico.

Performance practice

Apply emphasis deliberately and sparingly: a passage that emphasizes everything emphasizes nothing. Work with the attack of the notes and with time, not only with volume — a small stretching before the important note often works more strongly than an accent. Keep the sound full and avoid harshness. And ask yourself which word or which note is the core of the statement.