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Portato (;
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
past participle of ''portare'', "to carry"), also mezzo-staccato, French notes portées, in music denotes a smooth, pulsing articulation and is often notated by adding dots under slur markings. Portato is also known as articulated legato.


Description

Portato is a bowing technique for bowed stringed instruments in which successive notes are gently re-articulated while being joined under a single continuing bow stroke. It achieves a kind of pulsation or undulation, rather than separating the notes. It has been notated in various ways. One early 19th-century writer, Pierre Baillot (''L'art du violon'', Paris, 1834), gives two alternatives: a wavy line, and dots under a slur. Later in the century a third method became common: placing "legato" dashes (
tenuto In musical notation, ''tenuto'' ( Italian, past participle of ''tenere'', "to hold"), written as a horizontal bar above or below a note, is a direction for the performer to hold or sustain a note for its full length. Its precise interpretation ...
) under a slur. The notation with dots under slurs is ambiguous, because it is also used for very different bowings, including
staccato Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of Articulation (music), musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and ...
and flying spiccato. Currently, portato is sometimes indicated in words, by "mezzo-staccato" or "non-legato"; or can be shown by three graphic forms: * a slur that encompasses a phrase of staccato notes (the most common), or * a tenuto above a staccato mark (very often), or * a slur that encompasses a phrase of tenuto notes (less common). Portato is defined by some authorities as "the same as
portamento In music, portamento (: ''portamenti''; from old , meaning 'carriage' or 'carrying'), also known by its French name glissade, is a pitch sliding from one Musical note, note to another. The term originated from the Italian language, Italian exp ...
".


See also

*
Legato In music performance and notation, legato (; Italian for "tied together"; French ''lié''; German ''gebunden'') indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly, such that the transition from note to note is made with no intervening si ...
* Bariolage


References

{{Violin family Articulations (music) Italian words and phrases