Arpégez

As Printed on a Score

Printed beside or above the chord it affects, often together with the vertical wavy line: arpégé labels a chord, arpégez a passage, sometimes with a speed (arpégez lentement). It lasts for the marked chords; non arpégé or a bracket cancels it — notably in harp parts, where chords are often spread slightly unless marked otherwise.

Also spelled: arpégé, arpégés, arpéger

How Composers Use It

The wavy line is enough for an ordinary spread chord; write the word when you need to say more — how slowly to spread (Lili Boulanger’s arpégez lentement), or that a whole passage of chords is to be broken. French piano and harp music uses it freely. For a spread from the top down, add a downward arrowhead to the wavy line, since the word alone implies bottom upward.

Example

Lili Boulanger, Clairières dans le ciel, “Les lilas qui avaient fleuri”, piano, m. 43: “arpégez lentement,” beside “très effacé” (very subdued).

Related Terms