Now, the process of resolving and sublimation seems entirely appropriate to all kinds of sound experience, and Chopin’s music in particular is undoubtedly sublime, but prioritizing a biting stinging in one’s nose is certainly inappropriate.Ĭonsulting a dictionary actually reveals the completely opposite meaning: smorzando comes from the Italian smorzare, which means nothing less than to extinguish a fire, smorzare il fuoco, but also to temper a too-spicy tomato sauce ( smorzare il piccante).īut, as is well known, the Italian used in music is an artificial language, and consulting a music dictionary gives another meaning. This can indicate a slight smell of burning in the air as well as the combustion process itself. To this day, I cannot help but associate smorz with what I spontaneously associated it with during that time: schmürzele, a similar-sounding word in Swiss German. And then, just before the end of the piece, he puzzled me with: smorz, short for smorzando, as my piano teacher knew. Once he asked for con forza as a young man at the piano, I didn’t need to be told twice. At the very beginning, the composer encouraged me with a dolce espressivo, later intensified to dolcissimo. At some point in my adolescence, I finally managed to play the famous Nocturne in E-flat major, Op.