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mezza voce

American  
[met-suh voh-chey, med-zuh, mez-uh] / ˈmɛt sə ˈvoʊ tʃeɪ, ˈmɛd zə, ˈmɛz ə /

adverb

  1. with half the power of the voice (used as a musical direction). m.v.


mezza voce British  
/ ˈmɛtsə ˈvəʊtʃɪ, ˈmɛddza ˈvotʃe /

adverb

  1. music (in singing) softly; quietly

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of mezza voce

Borrowed into English from Italian around 1765–75

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The mezza voce Christoph Friedrich Bretzner dialogue depicts Belmonte, sung by Yijie Shi and Airam Hernández, as he tries to rescue his love, Konstanze, sung by Desirée Rancatore and Elena Gorshunova.

From New York Times • Sep. 6, 2017

Conducted by its creator, Thomas Adès, and directed by the mezza voce Tom Cairns, the performance is a classical genre manifested within a dreamlike late-1950s horror show.

From New York Times • Sep. 6, 2017

Vocal style usually went out the window when he saw a chance to prolong a honeyed mezza voce, a thundering high B-flat, a sob, a gulp or a tearful portamento.

From Time Magazine Archive

But this mezza voce, in its melancholy gentleness, contradicted everything I had imagined of the singer's nature.

From The Romance of the Canoness A Life-History by Heyse, Paul

To obviate the lack of resonance, Delsarte sang--according to his theory in regard to the laws of acoustics,--without expenditure of sound, almost mezza voce.

From Delsarte System of Oratory by Various