Un peu

As Printed on a Score

Printed before the word it softens or after the verb it limits — un peu plus lent, un peu retenu, un peu en dehors, animez un peu, cédez un peu. It lasts as long as the word it qualifies; a tempo change it introduces holds until the next tempo word, usually au Mouvt or 1er Mouvt.

How Composers Use It

The everyday French softener, equivalent to un poco, and a staple of Debussy, Ravel and Lili Boulanger, whose tempo changes are usually shadings rather than new sections. After a verb (cédez un peu, animez un peu) it limits an action; before an adjective (un peu animé) it names a slightly different state. Don’t confuse it with peu on its own, which restricts rather than adds: un peu expressif is “a little expressive”, peu expressif “hardly expressive”.

Example

Debussy, Trois Chansons de France, “Rondel: Pour ce que Plaisance est morte”, voice and piano, m. 10: “Cédez un peu”, in a song headed “Très modéré”; “1° Tempo” restores the pace at m. 13.

Related Terms