Höhnisch

As Printed on a Score

Printed over a vocal line or phrase where the tone should sneer. It lasts for that phrase and gives way to the next character word — in Wolf’s “Die Zigeunerin”, “bestimmt” two bars later.

Also spelled: hoehnisch

How Composers Use It

Scornful, mocking: a characterisation for singer or player rather than a tempo or dynamic. It invites exaggerated accents, a hard edge to the tone, perhaps a touch of rhythmic distortion — choices the performer must make, so mark dynamics and articulation to steer them. It is most at home in songs and dramatic music, where the text supplies the target of the mockery.

Example

Wolf, Eichendorff-Lieder, “Die Zigeunerin”, voice, m. 30: “höhnisch” at p after a rit., with “bestimmt” at f two bars later.