Fortepiano

What it means

Fortepiano, notated as fp, calls for a powerful beginning with immediate drawing back into the quiet. The note is attacked loudly and sinks immediately afterwards to piano; there is no transition in between.

The marking is to be distinguished from sforzando, which emphasizes a single note without changing the basic volume — after a sforzando what applied before applies again, after a fortepiano, by contrast, piano. Also to be kept apart is the sequence forte and then subito piano over two different notes: with fortepiano both concern the same note or chord.

The word also designates a keyboard instrument of the eighteenth century, the predecessor of the modern piano. As a dynamic marking in the score, however, the meaning described here is always meant.

In the notation

The sign fp stands below the staff, in vocal parts above the text, directly under the note concerned. Related spellings are sfp for a sharply accented beginning with subsequent piano and ffp. After the sign piano applies until a new marking appears.

Musical use

The effect is that of a sudden drawing back: the loud attack attracts attention, the immediate falling back creates room for what follows. In the Viennese Classical period the sign is frequent, for instance on chords after which a quiet continuation begins. Also on sustained notes it serves to make the entry audible without the note covering the further course.

Not to be confused with the fortepiano as an instrument. Its abbreviation is fp.

Performance practice

Draw back immediately, not gradually — a slackening over two beats turns the fortepiano into a decrescendo. With strings this succeeds through a quick bow attack with immediate relief, with winds through a definite start with immediately following drawing back. On the piano the drawing back is possible only with chord sequences, because the single note diminishes after the attack anyway. And take care that the following piano is really quiet.