Pompös

As Printed on a Score

Printed above a passage — in Lieder often over the piano part at a loud climax — to colour it until the next character word.

Also spelled: pompoes

How Composers Use It

Pompous, grandiose — sometimes sincerely stately, often puffed up for satire, as in Wolf’s comic songs. It asks for broad, emphatic, slightly over-dignified playing. Write it where the music already struts — heavy chords, dotted rhythms — so the word confirms the effect rather than creating it. If you mean genuine grandeur without a wink, maestoso reads more plainly.

Example

Wolf, Eichendorff-Lieder, “Der Schreckenberger”, piano, m. 44: “pompös” at fff, in a song headed “Keck und verwegen”.

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