Hervorheben: meaning and use in music

Hervorheben means 'bring out' or 'emphasize': make the indicated note, voice or figure clearer in the texture; write the verb in full.

DE hervorheben voicing and balance common Support my free tools

How is hervorheben played?

Clarify the selected material through proportionate balance, color, articulation or, where the score supports it, dynamic emphasis. Keep the surrounding texture and phrase intact rather than treating the instruction as a command to play everything louder. Hervorheben is the action of bringing something out; it is not the same headword as adjectival hervortretend, so the abbreviation hervortr. cannot be transferred to it.

How does hervorheben sound?

highlighted contour or voice

In context

Specialist dictionary evidence defines hervorheben as bring out or emphasize. The directly attested form hervortr. expands the different word hervortretend, and no precise candidate for hervorheben met the three-source direct-expansion rule.

Equivalent terms

  • IT mettere in rilievo
  • FR mettre en dehors
  • EN emphasize
  • DA fremhæve

Music theory and score context

See also

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