Non legato

As Printed on a Score

Printed above or below the staff at the start of the passage, sometimes as sempre non legato or combined with other words (marcato – non legato). It governs until legato, slurs or another articulation word replace it.

How Composers Use It

Separated but not short: each note is released just before the next, without staccato clipping. On the piano it gives clarity to fast or contrapuntal lines; for strings it suggests separate bows, in winds clear tonguing. Write it where slurs are absent but dots would make the passage too dry — or where an editor or player might otherwise add legato by habit.

Example

Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”), first movement, violas, m. 107: “non legato”.

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