Plaintif

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff or over a part, as plaintif or plaintive, often for a solo line with a soft dynamic. It colours the passage until a new character marking.

Also spelled: plaintive

How Composers Use It

It asks for a lamenting, mournful quality — a sighing, slightly pressed tone that sounds like a complaint rather than an outpouring of grief. It is the French counterpart of lamentoso and suits a melody in a solo instrument or inner voice. Boulanger gives it to the piano just after a cédez. Supply the dynamic as well, since plaintive phrasing works best at a quiet level.

Example

Boulanger, Dans l’immense tristesse, piano, m. 52: “plaintif”, at p, a bar after “cédez”.

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