FR sans presser tempo common Support my free tools
How is sans presser played?
Keep the phrase from being pushed ahead, preserving calm, controlled forward motion. CNRTL’s specialist musical sense of presser is to increase the speed of a composition’s movement; sans presser blocks that pressure relative to the existing tempo. It does not necessarily mean slow, and it does not automatically ask for a ritardando. Debussy even writes en augmentant (sans presser), allowing growth without tempo pressure, while Roussel places Sans presser after Modérément animé and before the distinct instruction Retenez. Maintain energy, subdivision and direction without rushing.
How does sans presser sound?
Forward motion remains calm instead of hurried.
Sans presser tells a performer not to speed up — CNRTL's own definition of presser, the root verb, is explicit: to increase the speed of a piece's movement. Sans presser simply forbids that increase, relative to whatever tempo is already there. Functionally, it's the French non affrettando.
In context
CNRTL defines musical presser as increasing the rapidity of a composition’s movement and explicitly lists sans presser as the opposite. Debussy’s en augmentant (sans presser) and Roussel’s sequence Modérément animé — Sans presser — Retenez show the full phrase in contexts where motion remains active and where actual holding back is separately named. The instruction therefore means “without pressing ahead” and keeps motion “calm instead of hurried” without implying a fixed slow tempo. No stable general abbreviation was established, so the phrase remains written out.
Equivalent terms
- IT senza affrettare
- DE nicht eilen
- EN do not rush
- EN without pressing