pianissimo

[ pee-uh-nis-uh-moh; Italian pyah-nees-see-maw ]

adjective

1. very soft.

adverb

1. very softly.

noun

, plural pi·a·nis·si·mos.

1. a passage or movement played in this way.

pianissimo

/ pɪəˈnɪsɪˌməʊ /

adjective

1. music (to be performed) very quietly pp

pianissimo

1. A musical direction meaning “to be performed very softly”; the opposite of fortissimo .

Word History and Origins

Origin of pianissimo¹

1715–25; < Italian, superlative of piano piano ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of pianissimo¹

C18: from Italian, superlative of piano soft

Example Sentences

And Lim’s soft playing is particularly sensitive, as in the pleading quality he brings to a tiny pianissimo quintuplet in Op.

From New York Times

In “Senta’s Ballad,” she catapulted into high-lying phrases with strength and point and drew her voice into a slender thread for beautifully formed pianissimo high notes.

From New York Times

Schiff, as in his touch at a keyboard, relished the extremes of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony — the opening truly pianissimo, the forzando notes truly explosive.

From New York Times

On Friday, however, her sound was often comparatively bright and extreme — the sfordanzos true explosions, the pianissimos exquisitely soft-spoken.

From New York Times

This time Schonberg writes in The Times that in “any part of the dynamic range, too, from the wispiest pianissimo to the most stupendous forte, Fisher Hall came through with extraordinary clarity.”

From New York Times