Soutenu

As Printed on a Score

Printed above or within the part concerned — soutenu, très soutenu, soutenu et vibrant, soutenu, mais ardent — at the passage whose tone should be held; in orchestral music it often marks a single instrument’s line. It lasts for that phrase or until another manner word replaces it.

How Composers Use It

Sustained: full tone, held through each note’s length and joined to the next — on strings a weighted bow, on the piano a singing touch with pedal, for winds steady breath support. It is the French sostenuto and can carry its tempo sense too, but French composers mostly use it for sound. Pair it with a character word (vibrant, ardent) to say what kind of sustain you want.

Example

Debussy, Trois Chansons de France, “Rondel: Le temps a laissé son manteau”, piano, m. 10: “soutenu”, beside “délicatement”, at p after an f.

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