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Slow and painful.
A complete tempo-and-character heading, printed above the first system and governing the whole piece unless a later tempo word changes it. It is one heading, not two separate directions: the tempo and the colour begin together.
Satie’s heading for the first Gymnopédie; the second is marked Lent et triste and the third Lent et grave, so the tempo word stays fixed while the colouring changes. It shows how French composers make one tempo word carry different moods. Douloureux names the colour, not a licence to drag: the slow pulse should stay even.
Satie, Gymnopédie No. 1, piano, m. 1: “Lent et douloureux”, with pp.
Lent et douloureux is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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