legato

[ luh-gah-toh; Italian le-gah-taw ]

/ ləˈgɑ toʊ; Italian lɛˈgɑ tɔ /

smooth and connected; without breaks between the successive tones.

Compare staccato.

Origin of legato

1805–15; < Italian, past participle of legare < Latin ligāre to bind

non·le·ga·to, adjective

legaspi, legate, legatee, legatine, legation, legato, legator, legco, legend, legendary, legendist

La prego credere che io sono ora, e per tutta la mia vita sarò, a Lei legato di affezione, divozione e rispetto.

Diversions in Sicily |H. Festing Jones
Some allow pupils to practise only staccato, and others only legato, aiming thereby at nobody knows what.

Piano and Song |Friedrich Wieck
Legato means "bound together," for which we substitute the word "connected."

Piano Playing |Josef Hofmann
After one has been through a mass of such material, the matter of legato singing becomes more or less automatic.

Great Singers on the Art of Singing |James Francis Cooke

For example, the legato and symbols which indicate that difference ( and ) have therefore the greatest value.

Montessori Elementary Materials |Maria Montessori

legato

/ (lɪˈɡɑːtəʊ) music /

to be performed smoothly and connectedly

C19: from Italian, literally: bound