divisi

American  

[dih-vee-zee] / dɪˈvi zi /

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).

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Etymology

Origin of divisi

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

Explanation

When you come to the notation divisi in a piece of music, you'll suddenly hear more harmony than before. That's because performers who have all been singing or playing the same part together split into different parts. Divisi is Italian for "divided." It applies to instruments or voices that play or sing the same notes for most of the piece, but temporarily divide or split up into different parts to enrich a short passage with extra harmony. For example, all the altos normally sing a certain line of music together, but for the divisi, they will split into higher and lower alto parts. The same can happen with instruments — especially if there are many of them, such as violins or flutes.

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.

From New York Times • Apr. 29, 2022

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.

From New York Times • Jan. 23, 2018

Hi populi omnes unam formani personarum et unam linguam habebant, quamvis inter se per provincias et principes essent divisi.

From Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus, &c. by Hell, Xavier Hommaire de