IT portatissimo articulation advanced Support my free tools
a strongly intensified portato or carried articulation, interpreted contextually; write portatissimo in full
How is portatissimo played?
Intensify the score’s portato quality while preserving a carried, articulated line between ordinary legato and clear staccato. Dots under a slur can suggest the related portato family, but they are graphical notation rather than a text abbreviation and do not establish one universal execution. Strings may pulse notes within one bow and keyboard players may use a clearly renewed but still connected touch; neither method is mandatory across instruments. The degree of separation and retained length is contextual, so portatissimo need not mean clipped notes and should not be confused with the pitch slide portamento.
How does portatissimo sound?
Notes sound distinctly pulsed and weighted within a still-connected line, more marked than ordinary portato.
In context
Portatissimo is a rare superlative built from portato and is best treated as a contextual intensification rather than a fixed technique. Two primary-score sources print the complete term, one explicitly qualifying it as quasi legato. The baseline dots-under-a-slur, one-bow string, keyboard-lift, intermediate-articulation and not-fully-clipped ideas remain qualified possibilities, and no textual contraction met the evidence threshold.
Equivalent terms
- EN very portato
- DA meget portato