PIANISSIMO, ‘very softly.
’ This direction, which on all ordinary occasions is expressed by pp, is sometimes, but not very often, written in full—as a rule, to emphasize the fact of its presence in cases where it would least be expected. Beethoven often uses the full direction simultaneously with the abbreviation, as in the 10th Variation of the 33 on a valse by Diabelli, op. 120, in which variation may also be found an instance of one of his chief characteristics,...
