Fin

As Printed on a Score

Printed at the final barline of a piece (FIN), or at the point where a repeated section ends — the place a D.C. or D.S. performance stops. In phrases, jusqu’à la fin means until the end. It marks a point, not a span.

How Composers Use It

Fin is the French counterpart of Fine. At the end of a piece it is a courtesy; inside a piece it is functional, marking where the music stops after a da capo, so place it over the final barline of that section and make sure the cadence there truly closes. Directions such as en retenant jusqu’à la fin let a single instruction run to the last bar.

Example

Debussy, Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, “La mort des amants”, piano, m. 48: “FIN” at ppp, after “morendo e ritenuto”.

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