Smorzando

Letting it be extinguished

Smorzando comes from the Italian word for “to smother” or “to extinguish”. In music it means a gradual getting softer until extinction: the sound should not break off suddenly but get weaker and weaker until it disappears. What is meant is more than an ordinary diminuendo, which ends at a certain level, namely a decrease almost to silence. The abbreviation “smorz.” usually appears above the staff at the beginning of the passage.

Also slower?

The dictionaries do not agree on this. The word itself names the extinguishing of the sound, that is the loudness. But some reference works also name a slowing down. For playing this means: with a smorzando it gets softer first; whether the tempo also slackens is decided by the piece and the context. Where the intention is clear, the composer adds “rit.” or “poco rit.”.

Smorzando and morendo

Both words describe an extinguishing. In practice smorzando and morendo (“dying”) often appear at similar places, especially at the end of phrases or pieces. Smorzando can also appear in the middle of a piece, when a phrase ends in nothing and something new begins.

Common mistakes

• Getting soft too early: Then the level before the end is already used up.
• Breaking off the tone: It should be extinguished gradually, not cut off abruptly.
• Always playing slower: The tempo is not automatically meant.