pianissimo

[pee-uh-nis-uh-moh, pyah-nees-see-maw]

adjective

1. very soft.

adverb

1. very softly.

noun

plural

pianissimos 

1. a passage or movement played in this way.

pianissimo

/ pɪəˈnɪsɪˌməʊ /

adjective

1. pp. music (to be performed) very quietly

pianissimo

1. A musical direction meaning “to be performed very softly”; the opposite of fortissimo.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pianissimo¹

1715–25; < Italian, superlative of piano piano ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of pianissimo¹

C18: from Italian, superlative of piano soft

Example Sentences

I told them, ‘Is there a way we can find space for rubato, pianissimo, glissando — all of that — so we can really play in the music?’

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Then in that first sort of chorus, where it’s quieter, more pianissimo, “I’m defying gravity. I think it’s time to defy gravity,” she’s not quite sure.

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And Lim’s soft playing is particularly sensitive, as in the pleading quality he brings to a tiny pianissimo quintuplet in Op.

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In “Senta’s Ballad,” she catapulted into high-lying phrases with strength and point and drew her voice into a slender thread for beautifully formed pianissimo high notes.

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Schiff, as in his touch at a keyboard, relished the extremes of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony — the opening truly pianissimo, the forzando notes truly explosive.

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