Fortissimo

What it means

Fortissimo is the intensified form of forte and designates a very loud level. It is notated as ff. Above it lies fortississimo (fff), below it forte (f); the counterpart on the quiet side is pianissimo.

Like all dynamic markings, this one too is relative. ff means something different in a solo piece than in an orchestral tutti, and what is decisive is the relation to the other levels of the piece. Where only piano and fortissimo occur, the distance is greater than where the whole scale is used.

With fortissimo too it holds that a tonal quality is meant along with it: full and sustaining, not hard or pressed. The limit lies where the tone loses its core.

In the notation

The sign ff stands below the staff, in vocal parts above the text, and applies until the next marking. With subito it demands a sudden change, with sempre keeping it over a longer stretch. At the end of a crescendo it marks its goal.

Musical use

In the Viennese Classical period fortissimo marks tutti climaxes and closing effects. With the growth of the orchestra in the nineteenth century, the scale is extended upward, and fff or even more letters become usual; ff thereby moves from the outermost level into the middle of the loud side. In chamber-music scoring, by contrast, it remains the upper limit.

It is notated with ff and stands at climaxes. It nevertheless stays sonorous and should not become hard.

Performance practice

First check whether louder levels occur in the piece, and divide up the room — whoever gives everything at the first ff has nothing left for the climax. Seek the volume through fullness of sound instead of force; pressed notes do not sound louder but narrower. Take care that the tempo does not speed up. And, in the ensemble, listen to the overall picture: a fortissimo arises from the sonority, not from everyone playing as loudly as possible for themselves.