Pizzicato (Italian for “plucked”) is a method of sound production on bowed string instruments (violin, viola, cello, double bass) in which the player plucks the string with a finger instead of drawing the bow across it. The sound becomes short, detached, ringing, like a droplet or a tap.
Pizzicato is a vivid contrast to the singing “bowed” sound (arco), so composers use it for special effects: lightness, playfulness, mystery, the imitation of footsteps or raindrops. A famous example is Strauss's entirely pizzicato “Pizzicato Polka.” There is also virtuosic left-hand pizzicato and the “Bartók pizzicato” (the string is pulled so hard that it snaps against the fingerboard). Pizzicato greatly expands the expressive palette of the string instruments.
