Éteint

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff or beside the dynamic, usually at p or pp, sometimes as a comparative (plus éteint). It applies to the passage it marks until a brighter colour word or a new dynamic takes over.

Also spelled: eteint

How Composers Use It

Éteint — extinguished — asks for a tone with the light gone out of it: little or no vibrato, flat colour, no brilliance. It is stronger than doux and different from sombre (dark) or effacé (in the background): it removes the shine itself. Use it at the end of a phrase that has burned out, or to drain colour from a repeated idea; at the piano a thin touch and the soft pedal help.

Example

Boulanger, Clairières dans le ciel, “Au pied de mon lit”, piano, m. 23: “éteint” at p, a bar after “vibrant” at the same level.

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