Toujours

As Printed on a Score

Printed before the direction it prolongs — toujours léger, toujours en dehors, toujours pp — meaning that the manner already in force continues. It does not end on its own: it holds until a contrary marking replaces it, which can be many bars later, so a reader must carry it forward across systems.

How Composers Use It

The French sempre. Use it to confirm a manner a player might otherwise relax — after a page turn, a new section, or a crescendo that tempts them to grow. It is most useful with qualities that wear off (lightness, softness, a voice kept prominent) rather than with tempo, where the absence of a new word already means “go on as before”. Debussy’s toujours en allant se perdant shows it governing a continuing process, not just a fixed state.

Example

Debussy, “Mandoline”, piano, m. 64: “toujours en allant se perdant” (still fading away as it goes), in a song otherwise directed mostly in Italian.

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