sordino
Americannoun
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sordini
plural
noun
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a mute for a stringed or brass musical instrument
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any of the dampers that arrest the vibrations of piano strings
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a musical direction to play with a mute
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a musical direction to remove or play without the mute or (on the piano) with the sustaining pedal pressed down
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sordino
1795–1805; < Italian: a mute, equivalent to sordo (< Latin surdus deaf ) + -ino -ine 1
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.
See Examples For:
Another modification of tone is caused by placing a tiny instrument called a sordino, or mute, upon the bridge.
From How to Listen to Music, 7th ed. Hints and Suggestions to Untaught Lovers of the Art by Henry Edward Krehbiel
Con sordino and pizzicato passages occur as often for the cello as for the violin.
From Music Notation and Terminology by Karl Wilson Gehrkens
This reminiscence probably influenced his fancy also in another direction; for it seemed to him that very faintly, as though played far off, and with the sordino, he could hear the air of the Gagliarda.
From The Lost Stradivarius by John Meade Falkner
As they reached his ears through the heavy stone roof they were more harmonious, all harshness was softened; the sordino of the vaulting produced the effect of a muffled peal.
From The Nebuly Coat by John Meade Falkner
He was using a sordino and playing it very softly; but I was not mistaken.
From The Lost Stradivarius by John Meade Falkner
It is announced by the horns con sordini, accompanied very softly by held notes in the strings, except viola, pizzicato in the celli, and tympani.
From Edward MacDowell by John F. Porte
The term senza sordini is also occasionally found in old editions, indicating that the damper pedal is to be depressed, while con sordini shows that it is to be released.
From Music Notation and Terminology by Karl Wilson Gehrkens
When he wanted the pedal he wrote "senza sordini," which means without dampers, and to take them off he wrote "con sordini," meaning with dampers.
From On the Execution of Music, and Principally of Ancient Music by Camille Saint-Saëns
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
