IT sostenuto tempo core term Support my free tools
- Abbreviation
- sost.
How is sostenuto played?
Hold notes for their written value with connected support, full tone and broad phrase direction; do not routinely extend them beyond notation. As a qualifier, Sostenuto can add gravity or modestly restrain the host tempo, but historical usage ranges from duration to a sense near meno mosso or ritenuto, so the composer and passage decide how much the pace changes. The piano pedal is a separate mechanism sharing the word: it catches selected dampers that are already raised while later notes can damp normally. Use that pedal only when the score or musical texture calls for it, not whenever the expressive word appears.
How does sostenuto sound?
The phrase sounds broad, full-toned, and connected, with each note given its full length and a sense of held-back gravity rather than forward urgency.
Sostenuto is mostly a note-duration instruction — sustained, held for full value — rather than a speed marking, but even the 1900 Grove Dictionary admits it doesn't stay in its lane: in Romantic-era scores it can slide toward meno mosso, or something between that and a gradual ritenuto back to tempo. Grove's own verdict is refreshingly honest: no precise rule can be given, because usage varies from one composer to the next. If a nineteenth-century reference book won't commit to a number, I'm not going to invent one.
In context
Treccani records an earlier meaning in which notes receive their full value and a nineteenth-century shift toward tempo restraint, while Duden preserves both senses; this explains why no single speed rule fits every Sostenuto. The pedal history is precise: U.S. Patent 156,388, granted to Albert Steinway on 27 October 1874, describes a mechanism that holds selected raised dampers without disabling the others, and Steinway’s own reference identifies the patented device as the middle sostenuto pedal. The mechanism’s selective action is accurately described without claiming that reference works condemn its name. The abbreviation sost. is independently attested by Mathews, Treccani, Duden and Merriam-Webster.
Equivalent terms
- FR soutenu
- FR bien soutenu
- DE getragen
- EN sustained