tutti

American  

[too-tee, toot-tee] / ˈtu ti, ˈtut ti /

adjective

1. all; all the voices or instruments together.

2. intended for or performed by all (or most of ) the voices or instruments together, as a passage or movement in concert music (solo ).

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noun

plural

tuttis

1. a tutti passage or movement.

2. the tonal product or effect of a tutti performance.

tutti British  

/ ˈtʊtɪ /

adjective

1. music to be performed by the whole orchestra, choir, etc Compare soli

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Etymology

Origin of tutti

1715–25; < Italian, plural of tutto all

Explanation

The musical instruction tutti means "all together." It's used when all the performers in an orchestra, choir, or ensemble should play the marked passage simultaneously. Tutti is Italian for "all." It usually comes up in a piece of music after a passage where just one or a few of the voices or instruments have been playing, while the others were silent. Then, where it says tutti, the whole choir or orchestra begins singing or playing, so all the different parts are heard in full harmony. This usually means the music is louder, too. It can create a very effective contrast!

Example Sentences

But repeating his new mantra about the church as a place of welcome, he said “tutti, tutti, tutti” must be allowed in: Everyone, everyone, everyone.

From Washington Times • Oct. 4, 2023

For example, the masculine form "tutti" is routinely used for "everyone", rather than the feminine "tutte".

From Reuters • Mar. 20, 2023

Yet he also relished hairpin turns during which the music throttled into tutti writing.

From New York Times • Jun. 12, 2022

The lone call of the magic horn that sounds at its outset trails off into a misty landscape, a trickling brook, a waking dawn and the blunt-force thwack of a cold-water tutti.

From Washington Post • Feb. 18, 2022

When a soprano solo came, all the ladies pressed forward, each insisting on singing it, so it was executed as a tutti.

From Letters of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy from Italy and Switzerland by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix