Contenu

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff or over the voice, in the masculine (contenu) or feminine (contenue, as in d’une voix contenue), and often paired with another word, as in contenu et ardent. It governs the passage until a new character word replaces it.

Also spelled: contenue

How Composers Use It

It asks for feeling held in check — intensity that is present but not released, often within a restricted dynamic. It is most telling during or just before a crescendo, telling the performer to keep something in reserve, and Lili Boulanger pairs it with ardent to describe exactly that tension. Do not treat it as a synonym for soft: contenu concerns restraint of expression, which a pp alone does not convey.

Example

Boulanger, Clairières dans le ciel, “Elle est gravement gaie”, voice, m. 18: “contenu”, printed in the same bar as “cresc., ma sempre poco” — growth kept on a short rein.