Avec tendresse

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the vocal line or part at the phrase it colours, generally at p; it affects that phrase or passage until another character word. It often sits beside a small tempo change such as cédez or un peu animé.

How Composers Use It

Avec tendresse means much the same as tendre, but the noun form reads as an instruction about delivery rather than a description of the music — useful in songs, where the singer addresses someone. In Dans l’immense tristesse Lili Boulanger sets it between un peu animé and cédez, so the tenderness is heard partly as a yielding of time. Avoid it alongside dolce or doux on the same note; one word for warmth is enough.

Example

Boulanger, Clairières dans le ciel, “Je garde une médaille d’elle”, voice, m. 11: “avec tendresse”, a bar after “entrecoupé et lointain” at p.

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