FR très doux character core term Support my free tools
How is très doux played?
The performer pushes the gentleness of doux further still, lightening the touch and sweetening the tone to its softest, most tender extreme. The qualifier très ('very') intensifies the root doux, so the marking sits at the gentle end of the expressive range, often paired with quiet dynamics. French composers used such intensified phrases to mark the most hushed, inward moments of a piece, where an ordinary doux would not go far enough. It is the superlative cousin of doux and avec douceur, and contrasts sharply with any direction calling for brilliance or firmness.
How does très doux sound?
The listener hears an extremely soft, sweet, hushed sound — gentleness taken to its limit.
In context
Très doux intensifies the standard glossary term doux ('soft, sweet, gentle') with the French qualifier très ('very'). It belongs to the French-language expressive vocabulary favoured by Debussy, Ravel and Fauré for the most hushed passages; it describes a degree of softness rather than a single signature work.
Equivalent terms
- IT molto dolce (near equivalent)
- IT dolcissimo
- DE sehr zart (near equivalent)
- DE sehr sanft
- EN very gentle
- EN very soft