Gestoßen (general score terms): meaning and use in music

How is gestoßen played?

Articulate the marked notes separately, allowing perceptible release between them instead of binding them into one legato line. Gestoßen belongs to the German vocabulary opposite gebunden and can be realized by appropriate bowing, tonguing or key release. The score’s tempo, dynamic, style and any accompanying signs decide how short, forceful or dry the result should be. Do not treat the staccato dot as a textual abbreviation or assume that every detached note has the same length.

How does gestoßen sound?

Notes are heard short and clearly separated, identical in effect to staccato articulation.

In context

In its articulation sense, German gestoßen means separated or detached and broadly corresponds to staccato. The word governs connection but does not alone determine attack strength, timbre or exact sounding duration. This separately indexed entry remains written in full.

Equivalent terms

• IT staccato
• FR piqué
• FR détaché
• EN detached
• EN tongued
• DA stødt