Klingen lassen

As Printed on a Score

Printed over a cymbal, gong, harp, timpani or piano note, often with an exclamation mark (“klingen lassen!”), and sometimes shown as a tie running off into empty space. It applies to that stroke, or with immer to the passage, until abdämpfen or a damping sign stops the sound.

How Composers Use It

The German counterpart of laissez vibrer and lasciar vibrare: the sound should decay naturally, overlapping what follows. Use it when the resonance is part of the music — a cymbal crash hanging over the next bars, a harp chord left in the air — and plan where it ends, since later music may need silence. For a dry stroke, write abdämpfen.

Example

Mahler, Symphony No. 5, first movement, cymbals, m. 67: “klingen lassen!” at ff.

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