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Lovely, sweet.
A heading printed above the first staff of a song or piece, alone or after a tempo word (“Mässig, lieblich”). It colours the whole piece rather than a single phrase.
Lieblich asks for charm and sweetness: light, graceful phrasing, a smiling tone, nothing heavy or overdone. It is the German counterpart of grazioso and amabile and suits folk-like and pastoral songs. Use it where the danger is that the performer will over-sing. It implies an easy, moderate tempo; add a tempo word if you want certainty.
Schubert, Heidenröslein, D. 257, Op. 3, voice, m. 1: the song is headed “Lieblich”, with no other tempo word.
Lieblich 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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