Très lent

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as a heading or mid-movement, often after ralentir peu à peu or plus lent, and frequently near the end of a piece, where nothing cancels it. Combined forms such as très lent et très doux attach the character in the same breath; elsewhere it lasts until Au mouvement or a new tempo word.

Also spelled: tres lent

How Composers Use It

Très lent in French music often implies not just slowness but suspended time — as if the music is floating. Messiaen uses it for his most mystical passages.

Example

Debussy, Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, “Recueillement”, voice, m. 60: “Très lent.” in a song headed “Lent et calme”, with p in the bar before.

Related Terms