Legato

What it means

Legato comes from legare, “to bind,” and calls for the notes to be joined without an audible gap. Every note sounds until the beginning of the next; a continuous line results. The notes are thereby articulated individually — unlike the tie, which joins two notes of the same pitch into a single sound.

Articulation forms a spectrum: from legato through portato and non legato to staccato and staccatissimo, the separation between the notes steadily increases. Legatissimo designates the utmost binding, in which the notes even slightly overlap one another.

In vocal music and with wind instruments, binding has an additional meaning: there, a bound section is sung or played in one breath.

In the notation

Binding is indicated by a slur above or below the notes, occasionally additionally by the word legato. For string players the slur shows what is to be played in one bow stroke; for wind players, what is played without tonguing. In piano music it often coincides with the phrasing; where articulation and phrasing diverge, editions sometimes place two slurs one above the other.

Musical use

Bound playing is the basic form of song-like music and shapes slow movements, melodies, and cantilenas. In the piano literature of the nineteenth century it becomes an ideal, favoured by the instrument's construction and by pedal technique. In fast runs it provides smoothness, in accompanying figures a calm foundation. The deliberate alternation between bound and separated sections belongs among the most important means of shaping altogether.

Performance practice

Work on the transitions: the line arises between the notes, not within them. On the piano, hold each key until the next sounds, and do not rely on the pedal. With winds, keep the air flowing evenly and do not insert the tongue between the notes. And take care that the binding does not become a blurring — even in legato every note must begin.