A suo piacere

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff at a passage left to the performer’s discretion — a fermata, a cadenza-like link, a transition — and normally ended by a tempo.

How Composers Use It

A suo piacere (at his or her pleasure) is the same as a piacere: the performer may take the passage freely, stretching time and shaping it at will. Classical composers use it for short cadenza-like links. Always follow it with a tempo, so the return to measured time is unmistakable.

Example

Haydn, Keyboard Sonata in E-flat major, Hob. XVI:49, first movement, m. 132: “a suo piacere” at f, cancelled by “a tempo” in the next bar.

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