Chanté

As Printed on a Score

Printed above a melodic line or between piano staves where a line should sing, alone or combined — doux et chanté, très chanté; the imperative chantez is used the same way. It lasts for the phrase or passage until a new character word.

Also spelled: chante, chantez

How Composers Use It

Chanté asks an instrumentalist to play as if singing: sustained tone, shaped phrasing, connected notes, the melody leading. It is the French cantabile and is most useful at the piano or in an inner voice, where singing tone has to be made. Write it on the line, not on the whole texture, and pair it with en dehors when the melody must also stand out from its accompaniment.

Example

Satie, Socrate, “Bords de l’Ilissus”, piano, m. 1: “chanté” at p, the movement’s first marking.

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