I've seen both these terms listed in online music glossaries as meaning "dying away", but neither entry ever refers to the other. Are there any real-world differences in how these are interpreted?
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1In which pieces of music have you seen these terms? The typical musical term I see for "dying away" is smorzando.– DekkadeciAug 8 '19 at 6:01
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Both Italian, both meaning 'dying away, 'expiring'. Can't find any more info.– TimAug 8 '19 at 7:30
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FWIW, the go-to Dolmetsch page says
espirando
(Italian) fading away, expiring, dying away, spirando, en expirant
mancando
(Italian) failing, diminishing in strength, dying away, lacking
smorzando
(Italian) extinguished, put out, gradually dying away to a whisper, calming down, subduing (Italian ) in music, similar terms include al niente (Italian), morendo (Italian), dämpfend (German), abschwächend (German), bis zum Nichts (German), en amortissant (French), hasta la nada (Spanish)
The basic answer is that composers use the word(s) they want to, and there's a ton of overlap in the multitude of semicommonly used descriptors.
answered Aug 8 '19 at 12:25
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@ToddWilcox - another Italian word for dying. Maybe that's a common thing to do there?!– TimAug 8 '19 at 14:49
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I typically understand "al niente" to mean dying away to literally nothing, not the p/pp/ppp of smorzando. Aug 8 '19 at 16:46
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All this answer has done really is to quote Dolmetsch. Little has been added. Google Dolmetsch.– TimAug 13 '19 at 18:09
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I didn't accept this answer primarily for its Dolmetsch quotes, I accepted it for "The basic answer is that composers use the word(s) they want to, and there's a ton of overlap in the multitude of semicommonly used descriptors"– EstherAug 14 '19 at 9:48