Sempre senza rigore

As Printed on a Score

Printed above or below the staff at the opening of a passage, and sometimes repeated at each return of the music it governs; it lasts until a strict-time word (a tempo, in tempo) appears.

How Composers Use It

Senza rigore frees the pulse: the player may stretch and give as the phrase suggests. Adding sempre makes that freedom the norm for a whole passage rather than a single moment. It is useful in accompaniments that must follow a singer’s rubato; mark the point where strict time returns, or the freedom spreads.

Example

Bizet, “Absence”, 20 Mélodies, Op. 21, piano, m. 5: “sempre senza rigore” at pp, a bar after an f; the same words return at m. 33 and m. 61.

Related Terms