Lié

As Printed on a Score

Printed above or below the staff where a passage should be connected, often as a reminder alongside slurs or in place of them over long stretches; combined as très lié, bien lié, doux et lié. It holds until a contrary word or marks (détaché, sec, staccato dots) appear.

Also spelled: lie

How Composers Use It

Lié is the French legato: notes joined without breaks, on one bow or with fingers overlapping. The word spares you a forest of slurs in long accompaniment patterns, but string players still need slurs to know the bowing — lié describes the sound, not where the bow changes. Ravel, Satie and Lili Boulanger use it when the rest of the page is in French.

Example

Boulanger, Clairières dans le ciel, “Elle était descendue au bas de la prairie”, piano, m. 9: “lié” comes with “Un peu plus mouvementé” and a subito p.

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