DE mit Ausdruck character core term Support my free tools
How is mit Ausdruck played?
The performer plays the passage with feeling and deliberate shaping rather than neutrally; literally 'with expression', it is the near-synonym of ausdrucksvoll and the German counterpart of espressivo and con espressione. It frequently anchors longer German phrases that intensify or specify the affect, most famously Beethoven's 'mit innigster Empfindung' family of directions. Because 'Ausdruck' can take adjectives, composers build richer instructions on it — for example combining it with 'innig' (intimate, heartfelt) — which lets a German direction carry a more specific emotional shade than a bare Italian term. The interpreter supplies the concrete means: rubato, voicing, dynamic shaping, tone.
How does mit Ausdruck sound?
The listener hears a clearly shaped, expressively inflected line rather than a plain reading.
In context
Mit Ausdruck is a standard German direction meaning 'expressively, with expression', glossed together with ausdrucksvoll. Beethoven's most celebrated related marking is the finale of the Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, headed 'Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung' ('songfully, with the most intimate feeling').
Equivalent terms
- IT con espressione
- FR avec expression
- EN with expression
- DA med udtryk