Suivez

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the accompanying part — the piano in songs, the orchestra under a soloist — where it must follow the leading line’s free timing (suivez, suivre, suivre le chant). It lasts until a tempo word or en mesure restores the accompaniment’s own beat, often only a bar or two later.

Also spelled: suivre

How Composers Use It

The French colla parte or colla voce: the accompaniment gives up its own tempo and follows the soloist. Mark it whenever the voice or solo line is given freedom — sans rigueur, a rubato, a held note — and mark the return too. It appears in orchestral parts as well; Lili Boulanger prints it in the violins of D’un matin de printemps.

Example

Lili Boulanger, Dans l’immense tristesse, piano, m. 18: “suivez”, in the same bar as the voice’s “sans rigueur”.

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