FR sans dureté character common Support my free tools
How is sans dureté played?
The performer softens every attack and rounds the sound, removing edge, percussiveness or brittleness from the line. The phrase is built from the French sans (without) and dureté (hardness, harshness), so it works by negation: it tells the player what to take away rather than what to add. It is the natural complement to positive directions such as doux or avec douceur, and is especially useful where the writing might otherwise tempt a hard, brilliant touch. French composers who annotated in their own language used such qualifying phrases to fine-tune the manner of delivery passage by passage.
How does sans dureté sound?
The effect is a smooth, unforced sound free of any harsh or percussive edge.
In context
Sans dureté is a transparent French qualifying phrase combining sans ('without') and dureté ('hardness, harshness'), both standard glossary vocabulary. It belongs to the French expressive tradition of marking scores in French, refining the manner of a passage by negation rather than naming a single work.
Equivalent terms
- IT dolce (near equivalent)
- IT senza durezza
- DE nicht hart
- DE weich
- EN without harshness
- EN not hard