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Definition 2024


al_niente

al niente

English

Adverb

al niente (not comparable)

  1. (music) Indicating in music notation that the dynamics fade to nothing.
    • 1970, English Church Music, page 45:
      I would, anyhow, put my money on Nunc Dimittis with its atmospheric mood and beautifully original ending where, after the impact of a robust Gloria a solo soprano quietly reiterates the opening phrase senza misura with the rest of the choir singing Amens al niente on open fifths.
    • 2005, Michael Halliwell, Opera and the Novel: The Case of Henry James:
      There is a strong feeling of renunciation, but this is softened somewhat by her enigmatic smile which implies a certain contentment and satisfaction, and the music dies away al niente.
    • 2016, Mine Doğantan-Dack, Artistic Practice as Research in Music: Theory, Criticism, Practice:
      The Prelude ends ambiguously, in that the two crotchet rests in bar 26 act as a fermata of indeterminate length as the resonance sustained by the open pedal fades al niente.

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Italian

Adverb

al niente

  1. al niente

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