Et

As Printed on a Score

Joins two directions into one, most often in a tempo heading (Lent et douloureux, Assez animé et très rythmé) or a character marking (doux et expressif). Both halves share the same scope — they begin together and last until the next heading or marking replaces them.

How Composers Use It

Where an Italian heading would read Lento e doloroso, French composers write the pair in their own language, and the second word usually tells the player how to colour the first. Join words that work on different levels — a tempo and a character, or a dynamic and a touch — rather than near-synonyms. Two words are usually the limit before a heading becomes a sentence.

Example

Debussy, Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, “Recueillement”, voice, m. 1: “Lent et calme” — a tempo word and a character word joined in one heading.

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