Sforzato

An accent with dynamics

Besides the slow transitions the building block Dynamics also describes the sudden events: the accent, the sforzato, lifts a single note out with force. The symbol library calls it a sudden, sharp stress on a single note, like a blow against the surrounding dynamics. Even if the context is quiet, sfz is played with full energy, and afterwards the loudness returns at once to the previous level.

That distinguishes the sforzato from forte: forte changes the basic loudness for a whole stretch, sforzato stresses only a moment without changing the basic loudness. And it distinguishes it from fortepiano: the fortepiano demands a strong attack and then expressly soft, the sforzato leaves the level afterwards where it was.

In the score

The abbreviation is placed directly at the stressed note, usually under the staff. It applies only to this note or chord. Two examples from the archive:

Piano

• Sonata facile, 1. Satz: Allegro Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, K. 545 · piano · 4 pages

  On the second page, in bar 24, f is marked first and sf immediately after it. From bar 31 sf is repeated several times, each time on the stressed note of a sixteenth-note figure. The piece writes “sf”, not “sfz”; both abbreviations mean the same.

• In der Halle des Bergkönigs Edvard Grieg, op. 46 No. 4 · piano · 4 pages

  On the last page in bars 74 and 75 sfz is written under the short interjection of the right hand each time, followed by a rest. The sign sits exactly on the single note and does not apply to the whole passage.

Stress against the pulse

A sforzato works most strongly where you do not expect it. The article Understanding and counting syncopation describes this principle for rhythm: the stress is set against the pulse, and the pulse itself stays unchanged. An sfz on an actually light beat does the same with loudness.