Douloureux

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff, alone or in a heading — Lent et douloureux, douloureux et résigné — and over a vocal line at the phrase it colours. It lasts until a new character word; the feminine douloureuse agrees with a feminine noun.

How Composers Use It

Douloureux asks for pain audibly carried: a heavier, more pressed tone than triste, with weight on dissonances and appoggiaturas. It is the French doloroso and works at any dynamic — Satie sets it at pp at the head of the first Gymnopédie, Bizet at f in a vocal climax. Pair it with a tempo word when it heads a piece, and keep it off light textures, where it reads as melodrama.

Example

Bizet, 20 Mélodies, Op. 21, “Adieux de l’hôtesse arabe”, voice, m. 67: “douloureux” at f, with “portez la voix” in the same bar.

Related Terms