Wie

As Printed on a Score

Introduces a back-reference or an image: wie oben, wie zu Anfang, wie vorher, or “wie ein Hauch”, “wie im Traume”. As a reference it sends the player back to an earlier passage’s tempo or manner; as an image it colours the passage it is printed over and lasts until the music moves on.

How Composers Use It

In a reference (wie zu Anfang) wie is a precise tempo instruction and needs a findable model. In an image (wie ein Hauch, wie ein Naturlaut, wie im Traume) it describes sound rather than speed, a device Mahler, Wolf and Webern all use. Images work when they suggest something a player can do — quiet, distance, weightlessness — and fail when they only name a mood.

Example

Webern, Five Songs on poems from “Der siebente Ring”, Op. 3, No. 4, “Im Morgentaun”, voice, m. 9: “wie ein Hauch” (“like a breath”), at ppp with a rit.

Related Terms