Con intimo sentimento

As Printed on a Score

Printed beside a very soft dynamic, often joined to a tempo change or to dolcissimo — Più lento con intimo sentimento; dolcissimo con intimo sentimento. It governs the episode it opens until the next tempo or character direction.

How Composers Use It

Con intimo sentimento asks for the most inward expression: private, almost whispered feeling, with the player drawn into the sound rather than projecting it. Liszt uses it for hushed lyrical episodes in the B minor Sonata and in Harmonies du soir. It works only at soft dynamics and in uncluttered textures; on a loud or busy passage it contradicts itself. The German equivalents are innig and mit Innigkeit.

Example

Liszt, Transcendental Étude No. 11 (“Harmonies du soir”), S. 139, piano, m. 59: “Più lento con intimo sentimento.”, with “accompagnamento quasi Arpa.” and a ppp two bars earlier.

Related Terms