Schmerzlich

As Printed on a Score

Printed over a vocal or melodic phrase; in bilingual editions the Italian “doloroso” stands beside it. It colours that phrase and lapses at the next character word.

How Composers Use It

Painful, aching: grief carried by tone — dark colour, leaning appoggiaturas, a sense of effort in the line. It is the German doloroso; schmerzvoll and klagend are close neighbours. Mahler sets it at p inside a restless song, which shows that pain need not be loud: mark the dynamic you want, and let the word shape the colour.

Example

Mahler, Kindertotenlieder, “In diesem Wetter”, voice, m. 29: “schmerzlich” with “doloroso” beside it, at p, with a cresc. in the same bar.

Related Terms