Doux et las

As Printed on a Score

Printed over the voice or above the staff, usually at the opening of a song or section beneath the tempo word, as a description of mood. It colours the passage until another character marking appears.

How Composers Use It

Two qualities in one instruction: doux for soft, gentle tone, las for weariness — a tired, drooping sweetness rather than tenderness. Debussy uses paired adjectives like this to give a singer a dramatic stance as well as a sound. Adding a second adjective sharpens a bare doux; if the weariness should also affect the tempo, say so with a tempo word.

Example

Debussy, Trois Chansons de Bilitis, “Le Tombeau des Naïades”, voice, m. 2: “Doux et las”, at p, beneath the song’s heading “Très lent”.

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