Dynamics
Mancando
Fading, dying away.
What it means
Mancando is an Italian performance direction meaning "fading, dying away". It calls for a gradual reduction in volume, often combined with a slight easing of tempo, until the sound all but vanishes.
Musical use
The marking usually stands at the end of a piece or section, where the music is meant to trail off into complete silence, for instance after a long decrescendo. Mancando should be distinguished from morendo (dying), which describes a similar effect often more strongly tied to tempo, and from calando, which reduces tempo and volume evenly without emphasising a sense of total disappearance.
Performance practice
For mancando, ease off tone and, where indicated, tempo so evenly that the music vanishes into silence without an audible break.