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Form of musical articulation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portato ([porˈtaːto]; Italian past participle of portare, "to carry"), also mezzo-staccato, French notes portées,[1] in music denotes a smooth, pulsing articulation and is often notated by adding dots under slur markings.
Portato is also known as articulated legato.[2]
Portato is a bowing technique for stringed instruments,[3] 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) under a slur.[1] The notation with dots under slurs is ambiguous, because it is also used for very different bowings, including staccato and flying spiccato.[1][4] Currently, portato is sometimes indicated in words, by "mezzo-staccato" or "non-legato"; or can be shown by three graphic forms:
Portato is defined by some authorities as "the same as portamento".[6]