Encore

As Printed on a Score

Printed with a comparative or a verb to mean “still more” — encore plus lent, plus animé encore, retenez encore — either before or after the words it intensifies. It extends a change already under way, so it usually follows a first step (plus lent, retenez) by a few bars and lasts until the next tempo word.

How Composers Use It

The French ancora. It works only as the second step of a series, and that is its value: it tells the player that the first change was not the end and the music must go further in the same direction. Ravel uses it in Ondine to deepen a slowing in two stages. Make sure the first step is clearly marked, otherwise encore has nothing to build on.

Example

Ravel, Gaspard de la nuit, “Ondine”, piano, m. 71: “Encore plus lent”, a bar after “Retenez” and six bars after “Un peu plus lent” — the second stage of the slowing.

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