una corda Mus.
(ˈuːnə ˈkɔədə)
[It., = one string.]
As a direction in music for the piano, etc.: use the soft pedal (which on grand pianos softens the tone by shifting the hammers so as to strike only one or two strings instead of two or three for each note). Also attrib., designating such a pedal mechanism. Cf. soft pedal n.
| 1849 Hamilton's Celebrated Dict. s.v., Una corda (Italian). Implies that a passage is to be played upon only one string. 1876 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 444/1 Un, Una, Uno (It.), one; as Una corda, one string. 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. s.v. pedal n., The direction una corda signifies simply the use of this [shifting] pedal. 1931 D. F. Tovey Beethoven Sonatas for Pianoforte xxix. 140 Beethoven's double shift from tre corda through due corda to una corda. 1961 [see escapement 3]. 1979 Sci. Amer. Jan. 99/2 To prevent this the piano is equipped with the una corda pedal, whose mechanical function is to shift the entire keyboard so that a hammer strikes only two strings of a unison triplet. |