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, 2019 at 6:01
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Both Italian, both meaning 'dying away, 'expiring'. Can't find any more info.– TimAug 8, 2019 at 7:30
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1 Answer
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, 2019 at 12:25
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@ToddWilcox - another Italian word for dying. Maybe that's a common thing to do there?!– TimAug 8, 2019 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, 2019 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, 2019 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, 2019 at 9:48