In music, an instruction to perform sweetly, softly, or gently with a smooth and pleasant tone.
Italian adverbial form from 'dolce' (sweet) plus '-mente' (the Italian adverbial suffix equivalent to English '-ly'), directly borrowed into musical terminology.
Musicians worldwide use Italian music terms because Italian opera dominated the art form for centuries—even composers from other countries learned to think in dolce, allegro, and fortissimo!
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