IT sempre legato articulation common Support my free tools
- Abbreviation
- sempre leg.
How is sempre legato played?
Keep the notes smoothly connected for the whole marked passage without reverting to detached articulation. Preserve the word sempre because it carries the continuing scope; a bare leg. does not state the same span. The exact physical action depends on instrument, and local slurs may shape phrases as well as articulation. Continue until another articulation, an explicit cancellation or a clear endpoint replaces the instruction.
How does sempre legato sound?
A continuous legato line without reverting to detached articulation.
In context
Musicca directly expands sempre leg., and independent Bartók and UCLA score witnesses print the same exact phrase. Together they establish the compact form while retaining the qualifier that makes the direction continuous. The marking asks for an ongoing legato line, not one local connection, and it does not prescribe a universal keyboard overlap, bowing or breath action.