Passionné

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as a character word, at the start of a section or the approach to a climax, alone or joined to a tempo word; it lasts until a calmer word or a new tempo heading. The feminine passionnée agrees with a feminine noun.

Also spelled: passionne

How Composers Use It

Passionné is the French appassionato: impassioned, intense, with surging phrases and a warm, full tone. It tends to push the tempo forward, so a tempo word beside it keeps the energy channelled. Use it where harmony and line genuinely build; marking a modest passage passionné invites players to overplay. Its natural opposites in the same vocabulary are calme and retenu.

Related Terms