Lunga

What it means

Lunga simply means “long” and stands in the notation as a reinforcement of an already existing instruction. Above or beside a fermata it calls for a particularly extended stretching, above a rest for a correspondingly long silence. It is not a sign of its own but a word added to an already indefinite duration to steer it in one direction.

In the notation

The addition is usually found above the staff, often in connection with the fermata sign, occasionally also in the form lunga pausa above a rest. It brings no numerical fixing with it — how long “long” is, is decided by tempo, character, and the place in the piece. In individual parts the note is especially helpful, because there the player cannot see what the other parts are doing.

Musical use

The addition is used where an ordinarily measured fermata would be too little: before the entry of a new section, after a weighty climax, at the end of a movement whose sound is to fade away completely. The effect rests on excess — a stretching that clearly goes beyond what is expected lifts the spot out of the flow and separates what came before from what follows.

The note is to be distinguished from the caesura, which does not stretch but interrupts: there, silence arises without sound; here, a sound or a rest is drawn out in length. And it differs from the grand pause in that the latter has a measured value within the bar.

Performance practice

Fix the duration beforehand within the ensemble, instead of leaving it to the moment — precisely with long stretchings, conceptions diverge widely. Keep the sound active over the entire length; a fermata that loses tension or intonation seems not generous but insecure. For wind instruments and voice, plan the breathing so that the tone does not thin at the end, and distribute it within the ensemble in staggered fashion if necessary. After the stretching, take up the tempo again without hesitation.