Seelenvoll

As Printed on a Score

Printed over a melodic line, often near espress., to describe how it should be sung or played; it holds for the phrase or passage until the next character word.

How Composers Use It

Soulful: full of inner feeling, the German neighbour of con anima and espressivo but more inward. It asks for vibrato, rubato and tone colour in the service of feeling, not volume — Mahler sets it at pp. Use it where a line carries the emotional weight of the music, and use it rarely; repeated, it loses force.

Example

Mahler, Symphony No. 5, fourth movement (Adagietto), first violins, m. 3: “seelenvoll” at pp, with “a tempo (sehr langsam)” after the “molto rit.” of m. 2.

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