Smorzando

What it means

Smorzando comes from smorzare, “to dampen, to extinguish,” and calls for an extinguishing of the sound: becoming softer until it vanishes, usually connected with a slackening of the tempo. Abbreviated it appears as smorz.

The marking belongs to the group of words for dying away, which also includes morendo, calando, and perdendosi. There is no binding difference between them; where a distinction is made, calando counts as the most matter-of-fact, perdendosi as the word for a vanishing, while morendo and smorzando stress the extinguishing.

Smorzando differs from a mere decrescendo in that it usually also captures the movement and aims at the edge of audibility.

In the notation

The word or abbreviation stands in italics above or below the staff, often together with a decrescendo hairpin, and applies until the end of the section. A dashed continuation line can indicate the stretch. Because the marking almost always stands at a close, an instruction ending it rarely follows.

Musical use

It is used at movement and work endings that are to fade away, as well as at transitions into silence. In the piano and song literature of the nineteenth century it is widespread, in orchestral music where a sound withdraws and instruments simultaneously drop out. The impression of extinguishing usually arises from the interplay of dynamics, tempo, and a thinning texture.

The marking often stands at a phrase ending. The instruction calls for gradually damping and extinguishing the sound, often together with a slackening of tempo. It is related to morendo and perdendosi and is abbreviated as smorz.

Performance practice

Connect volume and movement and pace both over the whole stretch. Keep reserve for the last notes, so that the close is not reached prematurely. Take care that the tone still carries and the intonation stays stable to the last. And let the last sound expire, instead of cutting it off — an audible ending contradicts the sense of the instruction.