In
classical music, it is customary to describe the tempo of a piece by one or more words, most commonly in Italian, in addition to or instead of a metronome mark in beats per minute. Italian is typically used because it was the language of most composers during the time these descriptions became commonplace in the Western musical lexicon. Some well-known Italian tempo indications include "Allegro" (English "Cheerful"), "Andante" ("Walking-pace") and "Presto" ("Quickly"). This practice developed during the 17th and 18th centuries, the
baroque and
classical periods. In the earlier
Renaissance music, performers understood most music to flow at a tempo defined by the
tactus (roughly the rate of the human heartbeat). The
mensural time signature indicated which note value corresponded to the tactus. In the Baroque period, pieces would typically be given an indication, which might be a tempo marking (e.g.
Allegro), or the name of a dance (e.g.
Allemande or
Sarabande), the latter being an indication both of tempo and of metre. Any musician of the time was expected to know how to interpret these markings based on custom and experience. In some cases, however, these markings were simply omitted. For example, the first movement of
Bach's
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 has no tempo or mood indication whatsoever. Despite the increasing number of explicit tempo markings, musicians still observe conventions, expecting a
minuet to be at a fairly stately tempo, slower than a
Viennese waltz; a
perpetuum mobile quite fast, and so on. Genres imply tempos, and thus,
Ludwig van Beethoven wrote "In tempo d'un Menuetto" over the first movement of his Piano Sonata Op. 54, though that movement is not a minuet. Many tempo markings also indicate mood and expression. For example,
presto and
allegro both indicate a speedy execution (
presto being faster), but
allegro also connotes joy (from its original meaning in Italian).
Presto, on the other hand, simply indicates speed. Additional Italian words also indicate tempo and mood. For example, the "agitato" in the
Allegro agitato of the last movement of
George Gershwin's
piano concerto in F has both a tempo indication (undoubtedly faster than a usual
Allegro) and a mood indication ("agitated"). Often, composers (or
music publishers) name
movements of compositions after their tempo (or mood) marking. For instance, the second movement of
Samuel Barber's first
String Quartet is an
Adagio.
Basic tempo markings Here follows a list of common tempo markings. The beats per minute (bpm) values are very rough approximations for time, and vary widely according to composers and works. A metronome marking cannot be deduced from one of the descriptive Italian or non-Italian terms alone. Where both metronome marking and a word indication occur together, the verbal cue is often also intended to express a style or feeling, which a metronome marking alone cannot do. It is therefore important to remember that the exact sense of many of these terms has changed over time. One striking example is the use of the term
Allegretto. Between its early use in the 18th century and its later use from the 19th century onwards, it has experienced a slight increment in the tempo that it is intended to denote. Originally, it implied a tempo very slightly faster than
Andante, whereas now it is often used to indicate one that is just a little slower than
Allegro. A similar fate has befallen the terms
Adagietto and
Andantino. Likewise, the terms
Largo and
Adagio have experienced a considerable shift with regards to the tempi, in beats per minute, that they are required to express: a modern
Largo is slower than
Adagio, but in the Baroque period it was faster.
Approximately from the slowest to the fastest •
Larghissimo – extremely slow, slowest type of tempo (24 bpm and under) •
Adagissimo and
Grave – very slow and solemn (24–40 bpm) •
Largo – slow and broad (40–66 bpm) •
Larghetto – rather slow and broad (44–66 bpm) •
Lento – slow (40–60 bpm) •
Adagio – slow with great expression (44–66 bpm) •
Adagietto – slower than
andante or slightly faster than
adagio (46–80 bpm) •
Andante – at a walking pace, moderately slow (56–108 bpm) •
Andantino – slightly faster than
andante, but slower than
moderato (80–108 bpm) (although, in some cases, it can be taken to mean slightly slower than
andante) •
Marcia moderato – moderately, in the manner of a march (66–80 bpm) •
Andante moderato – between
andante and
moderato (at a moderate walking speed) (80–108 bpm) •
Moderato – at a moderate speed (108–120 bpm) •
Allegretto – by the mid-19th century, moderately fast (112–120 bpm); see paragraph above for earlier usage •
Allegro moderato – close to, but not quite
allegro (116–120 bpm) •
Allegro – fast and bright (120–156 bpm) •
Molto Allegro or
Allegro vivace – at least slightly faster and livelier than allegro, but always at its range (and no faster than vivace) (124–156 bpm) •
Vivace – lively and fast (156–176 bpm) •
Vivacissimo and Allegrissimo – very fast, lively and bright (172–176 bpm) •
Presto – very fast (168–200 bpm) •
Prestissimo – extremely fast (200 bpm and over)
Additional terms •
A piacere or
Ad libitum in Latin – the performer may use their own discretion with regard to tempo and rhythm; literally "at pleasure" •
Accelerando – gradually play faster •
Assai – (very) much •
A tempo – resume previous tempo •
Con Brio – with vigor •
Con grazia – with grace, or gracefully •
Con moto – Italian for "with movement"; can be combined with a tempo indication, e.g.,
Andante con moto •
Furioso or
Furibondo – 'furiously' •
Lamentoso – sadly, plaintively • ''L'istesso
, L'istesso tempo
, or Lo stesso tempo
– at the same speed; L'istesso'' is used when the actual speed of the music has not changed, despite apparent signals to the contrary, such as changes in time signature or note length (half notes in could change to whole notes in , and they would all have the same duration) •
Ma non tanto – but not so much; used in the same way and has the same effect as
Ma non troppo (see immediately below) but to a lesser degree •
Ma non troppo – but not too much; used to modify a basic tempo to indicate that the basic tempo should be reined in to a degree; for example,
Adagio ma non troppo to mean "Slow, but not too much",
Allegro ma non troppo to mean "Fast, but not too much" •
Maestoso – majestically, stately •
Molto – very •
Meno – less •
Più – more •
Poco – little •
Rall. or "Rallentando" – opposite of
Accelerando •
Subito – suddenly •
Tempo comodo – at a comfortable speed •
Tempo di... – the speed of a ... (such as
Tempo di valse (speed of a waltz, ≈ 60 bpm or ≈ 126 bpm),
Tempo di marcia (speed of a
march, ≈ 120 bpm)) •
Tempo giusto – at a consistent speed, at the 'right' speed, in strict tempo •
Tempo primo – resume the original (first) tempo •
Tempo semplice – simple, regular speed, plainly
French tempo markings Several composers have written markings in French, among them baroque composers
François Couperin and
Jean-Philippe Rameau as well as
Claude Debussy,
Olivier Messiaen,
Maurice Ravel and
Alexander Scriabin.
Erik Satie was known to write extensive tempo (and character) markings by defining them in a poetical and literal way, as in his
Gnossiennes. Common tempo markings in French are: •
Au mouvement – play the (first or main) tempo. •
Grave – slowly and solemnly •
Lent – slowly •
Moins – less, as in
Moins vite (less fast) •
Modéré – at a moderate tempo •
Vif – lively •
Très – very, as in
Très vif (very lively) •
Vite – fast •
Rapide – rapidly
German tempo markings Many composers have used German tempo markings. Typical German tempo markings are: •
Kräftig – vigorous or powerful •
Langsam – slowly •
Lebhaft – lively (mood) •
Mäßig – moderately •
Rasch – quickly •
Schnell – fast •
Bewegt – animated, with motion One of the first German composers to use tempo markings in his native language was
Ludwig van Beethoven, but only sparsely.
Robert Schumann followed afterwards with increasingly specific markings, and later composers like
Hindemith and
Mahler would further elaborate on combined tempo and mood instructions in German. For example, the second
movement of Mahler's
Symphony No. 9 is marked , indicating a slowish folk-dance-like movement, with some awkwardness and much vulgarity in the execution. Mahler would also sometimes combine German tempo markings with traditional Italian markings, as in the first movement of his
sixth symphony, marked (Energetically quick, but not too much. Violent, but vigorous.)
English tempo markings English indications, for example
quickly, have also been used by
Benjamin Britten and
Percy Grainger, among many others. In
jazz and
popular music lead sheets and
fake book charts, terms like
fast,
laid back,
steady rock,
mid-tempo,
medium,
medium-up,
ballad,
brisk,
brightly,
up,
slowly, and similar style indications may appear. In some
lead sheets and fake books, both tempo and genre are indicated, e.g.,
slow blues,
fast swing, or
medium Latin. The genre indications help
rhythm section instrumentalists use the correct style. For example, if a song says
medium shuffle, the drummer plays a
shuffle drum pattern; if it says
fast boogie-woogie, the piano player plays a
boogie-woogie bassline.
Show tempo, a term used since the early days of
vaudeville, describes the traditionally brisk tempo (usually 160–170 bpm) of opening songs in
stage revues and musicals. Humourist
Tom Lehrer uses facetious English tempo markings in his anthology
Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer. For example, "National Brotherhood Week" is to be played
fraternally; "We Will All Go Together" is marked
eschatologically; and "
Masochism Tango" has the tempo
painstakingly. His English contemporaries
Flanders and Swann have similarly marked scores, with the music for their song "The Whale (Moby Dick)" shown as
oceanlike and vast. ==Variation through a piece==