Gracieux

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff or over a part, as gracieux or the feminine gracieuse, alone or paired with another word. It sets an elegant manner for the passage until another character marking replaces it.

Also spelled: gracieuse

How Composers Use It

The French equivalent of grazioso: light, elegant and gently lilting, with graceful shaping of phrases and ornaments. It suits dance-like and pastoral music, and in orchestral writing it tells a solo wind how to shape its line. It describes manner, not tempo, so pair it with a tempo or dynamic where needed.

Example

Boulanger, D’un matin de printemps, piccolo, m. 16: “gracieux”, printed in square brackets in this edition; the piece opens “Assez animé, léger, gai”.

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