A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Sfogato

by J. A. Fuller-Maitland

SFOGATO (open, airy), a word used in rare instances by Chopin in certain of those little cadenzas and ornaments that he is so fond of using, to indicate what may be called his own peculiar touch, a delicate and, as it were, ethereal tone, which can only be produced upon the pianoforte, and then only by performers of exceptional skill. 'Exhalation' is the only word that conveys an idea of this tone when it is produced. A 'Soprano sfogato' is a thin, acute, voice.

[ J. A. F. M. ]