Solennel

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff or over the voice, as solennel or the feminine solennelle, alone or joined to a tempo word. It sets the character of a passage and remains until a new character or tempo marking replaces it.

Also spelled: solennelle

How Composers Use It

It asks for gravity and ceremony: measured pace, full and even tone, nothing hurried or light. It does not require loudness — Debussy places it at a p. It is the French counterpart of solenne, without maestoso’s grandeur; add a tempo word if the solemnity should also slow the music.

Example

Debussy, Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, “Recueillement”, voice, m. 56: “Solennel”, marked p; the song opens “Lent et calme”.

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