Délicatement

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff or over a part, usually with a soft dynamic and sometimes with another word in the same bar (soutenu, léger). It sets a manner for the passage and lasts until the next character marking.

Also spelled: delicatement

How Composers Use It

It asks for refinement of touch: light, precise, carefully shaded playing without heaviness or accent. Debussy uses it where a texture thins after louder music, so the change of manner matters as much as the drop in volume. Combine it with soutenu or léger to say whether the delicacy should be sustained or airy, and give the dynamic separately.

Example

Debussy, Trois Chansons de France, “Rondel: Le temps a laissé son manteau”, piano, m. 10: “délicatement”, with “soutenu” and p in the same bar, two bars after an f.