Con semplicità

As Printed on a Score

Printed beside the dynamic or attached to a tempo word, usually at the start of a plain, songlike passage. It holds until the next character direction; the adjective semplice is far more common in the same places.

Also spelled: con semplicita

How Composers Use It

Con semplicità asks for simplicity: plain phrasing, steady time, no rubato or added expressive gestures. It is a direction against habit — it tells a performer to resist shaping every note. Use it on folk-like melodies, chorales, or a theme stated before its variations, and pair it with a dynamic. Combine it with an expressive word only when, like Beethoven’s con espressione e semplice, you mean feeling held in check.

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