Forte (fencing) Forte (fencing) In fencing, forte (from the Romance root meaning "strong") is "the strong part" of the blade—the one third-closest to the hilt. The "strength" refers to the control established over the opponent's weapon upon contact of one's forte with the opponent's foible (a situation of favourable leverage). (See also parry (fencing).) Fencer Ridolfo Capo Ferro defined the forte as the blade from the hilt to the middle. From the middle to the top is known as the debole. The debole is the part of the sword, especially a rapier, that is used for offensive actions. Italian fencing master Ridolfo
Allen Forte the latter capacity served as advisor to seventy-two Ph.D. dissertations completed between 1968 and 2002. (Yale did not offer a Ph.D. in theory for the first several years Forte was there.) A list of all his advisees and their dissertation titles appears in David Carson Berry, "The Twin Legacies of a Scholar-Teacher: The Publications and Dissertation Advisees of Allen Forte," Gamut 2/1 (2009), 197-222. The list is ordered chronologically by submission, and each advisee is given an "FA" number to denote his or her ordering among the advisees. ("FA" stands for “Forte Advisee,” and is also a retrograde of Allen