Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb & adjective In a manner that is sustained as long as or beyond a note's full value. Used chiefly as a direction.
- noun A sostenuto passage or movement.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In music, sustained; prolonged: sometimes merely the same as
tenuto , and sometimes implying in addition a slight reduction of speed. Abbreviated sost.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Mus.) Sustained; -- applied to a movement or passage the sounds of which are to sustained to the utmost of the nominal value of the time; also, to a passage the tones of which are to be somewhat prolonged or protacted.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb music played in a
sustained manner beyond thenotes normal value - noun A note or passage
marked to be sustained
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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It also refers to marriage as a "wild sostenuto of the heart," a phrase I use as an anchor point in romantic conversations with my wife.
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There are only a few sound characteristics that a pianist can control: hammer and damper timing, individual note velocities the force with which each note is struck, and the pedal controls, una corda, sostenuto and damper.
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The piano is propably among the easiest instruments to apply this kind of processing to, but even here there are problems with techniques such as half-pedalling, use of sostenuto pedal, etc.
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Mark it merely sostenuto, and let the conductor make the decision.
Not About Old Age, Exactly, But How Aging Is Experienced 2004
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There is a solid bass A in the first, introductory bar (Molto sostenuto), then another A two bars later under "ciel."
An Exchange on the New Grove Friedland, Bea 1981
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"But my _tremolo_ -- my _sostenuto_ will be ruined," said Hippolyte wildly.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, 1920-02-18 Various
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_Andante sostenuto_ -- moderately slow and sustained.
Music Notation and Terminology Karl Wilson Gehrkens 1928
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"It's worse," he repeated, his voice loud and harsh, like a discordant bell clashing in the sostenuto passage of a symphony; "but it's all one to me -- there's nothing else they can take; I'm free, free to sleep or wake, to be drunk when I like with no responsibility to Simmons or any one else --"
Mountain Blood A Novel Joseph Hergesheimer 1917
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There is a good effect gained by sustaining certain notes over several measures, though few pianists get a real sostenuto.
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He not only possessed the mastery of touch in a transcendent degree and excelled in sostenuto playing by the use of the pedal, but actually discovered a method of making two hands produce the triple effect of melody, accompaniment, and bass on one keyboard — a resource exploited by many composers after him.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 14: Simony-Tournon 1840-1916 1913
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