Avec

As Printed on a Score

Printed before a noun naming a manner — avec charme, avec passion, avec tendresse, avec émotion, avec sourdine — usually over the part it concerns, at the start of the passage. An expressive avec phrase lasts until the character changes; a technical one (avec sourdine, avec pédale) until cancelled by its sans counterpart.

How Composers Use It

The French con. An avec phrase names a feeling rather than a speed or a dynamic, which is why it pairs with a tempo heading instead of replacing one. French song composers from Bizet to Lili Boulanger use it to give the singer an emotional cue line by line. Choose a noun the performer can act on — charme, abandon, gravité — and avoid piling several avec phrases on one bar; one well-chosen word does more.

Example

Bizet, Feuilles d’album, “Adieux à Suzon”, voice, m. 49: “avec passion”, five bars after “a tempo” — an Italian tempo word and a French expressive one side by side.

Related Terms