Le

As Printed on a Score

Part of longer directions rather than a direction itself: it picks out the thing an instruction acts on — marquez le chant, ôtez les sourdines, la m.g. un peu en dehors, reprenez le mouvement. A reader should look past it to the noun, which tells which voice, hand or device is meant.

Also spelled: la, les, l’

How Composers Use It

The article matters most in orchestral and piano directions, where it says which element an instruction concerns: le chant (the melody), la basse, les sourdines, la m.g. (the left hand). Name the element precisely when several lines are in play; marquez le chant is clear only if the melody is obvious, so add en dehors or a staff indication when it is not.

Example

Lili Boulanger, D’un matin de printemps, first violins, m. 139: “ôtez les sourdines” (remove the mutes).

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