FR très expressif character common Support my free tools
How is très expressif played?
The performer pushes the expressive shaping further than a plain 'expressif' would ask: more pronounced dynamic shading, more flexible timing, a more singing and inflected tone. 'Très' is simply the French intensifier 'very', so the marking is a graded step up rather than a new category. It is characteristic of the French repertoire — Debussy, Ravel, Fauré and contemporaries routinely write graded French directions like this — and appears where a composer wants the player to commit fully to feeling at a particular moment. It often sits alongside other French qualifiers ('très doux', 'très expressif et soutenu').
How does très expressif sound?
The listener hears a markedly heightened, intensely shaped and feeling-laden phrase.
In context
Très expressif is the intensified French direction 'very expressive', built from 'très' (very, a standard glossary term) and 'expressif'. It is idiomatic to the French repertoire rather than tied to a single attributable work.
Equivalent terms
- EN very expressive
- DA meget udtryksfuldt