divisi

[dih-vee-zee]

adjective

Music.

1. divided; separated (used as a musical direction for two or more performers reading a part to begin reading two or more parts).

Word History and Origins

Origin of divisi¹

1730–40; < Italian, plural of diviso divided, past participle of dividere to divide

Example Sentences

But although Liszt haunts “Inferno,” the craft is Adès’s: hallmarks like full-bodied, divisi strings; excess at both ends of the dynamic spectrum; and meter that changes by the measure.

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But the orchestration had been heavily altered — new instruments, and divisi lines added to the violin parts — and the ending was rewritten to be tragic, a tradition that continues with most stagings today.

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