Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb & adjective In a very loud manner. Used chiefly as a direction.
- noun A note, chord, or passage played fortissimo.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In music, very loud: noting a passage that is intended to be so rendered. Abbreviated ff.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb (Mus.) Very loud; with the utmost strength or loudness.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
comparative form offorte : moreforte - adverb
comparative form offorte : moreforte - adverb music The musical term indicating that the piece is played very loud.
- noun music The dynamic sign indicating that the piece should be played fortissimo. Abbreviation:
ff .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective chiefly a direction or description in music
- adverb a direction in music; to be played very loudly
- noun (music) loud
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Again and again, we experience a Baroque church as a unique kind of fortissimo of joy, an Alleluia in visual form.
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So far, this scribe detects two "fortissimo" candidates -- people palpably impatient to get in office and shake things up.
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Then the full orchestra lets rip for the next phrases, marked fortissimo, with cymbals crashing.
The Splendid Start to a Farewell to Opera Barrymore Laurence Scherer 2011
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It takes a lot of calculating to sing a role as challenging as Butterfly, but in Naglestad's case the calculation was sometimes visible enough to dull the dramatic edge: a pause before a high note, a slightly too-deliberate leap into fortissimo in "Un bel di."
Anne Midgette reviews Washington National Opera's 'Madama Butterfly' 2011
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With a mighty descending gesture of massed violins and woodwinds the storm unleashes its fury over rolling timpani, pounding bass drum and fortissimo brass chords.
The Splendid Start to a Farewell to Opera Barrymore Laurence Scherer 2011
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Even more so was the Vienna Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez doing Berg's "Lulu-Suite" and Mahler's "Das Klagende Lied"; though their fortissimo passages were even surpassed in volume by the three Tchaikovsky/Shakespeare pieces performed by the youthful Simón Bolívar Orchestra of Venezuela, conducted by their guru, Gustavo Dudamel.
Salzburg's Summer of Shadows and Shakespeare Paul Levy 2011
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Near silence or crashing fortissimo, simple melody or, as in the finale of the Bruckner, an enormous double fugue, he hardly alters his demeanour.
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He turned to the orchestra, told them the cue, and picked up from a vigorous fortissimo section.
Rogue Ringtone Halts a Maestro Jennifer Maloney 2012
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Beethoven's many accents were given little attention, and rarely did the group produce a real, full-throated fortissimo.
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Excitement, splendid orchestral playing and rousing fortissimo sections are three hallmarks of Gustavo Dudamel's performances of the three Tchaikovsky symphonic overtures based on Shakespeare.
CD review: Gustavo Dudamel conducts Tchaikovsky's Shakespeare overtures 2011
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