Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb & adjective In a smooth, even style without any noticeable break between the notes. Used chiefly as a direction.
- noun A legato passage or movement.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In music, in a smooth, connected manner, without breaks or pauses between successive tones: opposed to staccato.
- noun A smooth, connected manner of performance, or a passage so performed.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Mus.) Connected; tied; -- a term used when successive tones are to be produced in a closely connected, smoothly gliding manner. It is often indicated by a
tie , thus �, �, or �, �, written over or under the notes to be so performed; -- opposed tostaccato .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb music
Smoothly , in aconnected manner. - noun music A
slur curve above or below a passage of notes indicating that they should be played in a legato manner.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective (music) without breaks between notes; smooth and connected
- adverb connecting the notes; in music
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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Unfortunately, this school invented as well continuous legato, which is both false and monotonous; the abuse of nuances, and a mania for continual expressio used with no discrimination.
Musical Memories Saint-Saens, Camille 1919
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Firstly the 303 is a monosynth so set the Subtractors Portamento = 25, Polyphony = 1 and mode to "legato"
xml's Blinklist.com 2008
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Playing an instrument with no actual legato and only manual-to-manual dynamic variance, Hantaï offered a world-class demonstration of how to fool the listener into thinking that legato and dynamic variance were everywhere.
Archive 2009-06-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2009
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On a technical level, Herbert would do well to sustain more legato phrasing on his lines.
Rodney Punt: Schubert's Winterreise from Le Salon de Musiques Rodney Punt 2011
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Otherwise, the same principles apply to this as would apply to the authentic Gregorian version: always legato, no breathing during words, crescendo through the pressus, etc.
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Playing an instrument with no actual legato and only manual-to-manual dynamic variance, Hantaï offered a world-class demonstration of how to fool the listener into thinking that legato and dynamic variance were everywhere.
Authentication keys Matthew Guerrieri 2009
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On a technical level, Herbert would do well to sustain more legato phrasing on his lines.
Rodney Punt: Schubert's Winterreise from Le Salon de Musiques Rodney Punt 2011
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Prendere il turista, lo straniero o il diverso come una persona poco degna di rispetto, è talmente radicato in una forte percentuale di italiani, da non essere un fatto legato ad una regione.
Global Voices in English » Japan: Reactions to the Japanese tourist rip-off in Italy 2009
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And yet he's able to calmly explain legato to his violin-playing grandson.
Marshall Fine: HuffPost Review: Every Day Marshall Fine 2011
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Her strong vocal technique encompasses trills and runs, a smooth legato, and lets her go, as she put it in a telephone interview, "from softest of the soft up to loudest of the loud, and hopefully any degree in between."
Opera singer Joyce DiDonato talks about her all-American work ethic Anne Midgette 2011
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