Sans presser

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff at a passage that might tempt the player forward — rising lines, a crescendo, quicker notes. It changes no tempo; it guards the one in force for the length of the phrase, and a later pressez or en animant overrides it.

How Composers Use It

Write it where you expect the performer’s instinct to rush, not as decoration: a sans presser in an animated piece says the energy must come from the notes, not the speed. It is the counterpart of sans ralentir, which forbids slowing. Satie and Lili Boulanger use it in song and orchestral writing alike; one such caution per passage is usually enough.

Example

Lili Boulanger, D’un matin de printemps (orchestral version), piccolo, m. 20: “sans presser”, two bars before “gai”, in a piece headed “Assez animé, léger, gai”; it returns at m. 30.

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