Tempo (Tempii)

How fast (beats per minute) a piece of

music is. Marked by the composer and
followed by the conductor.
 Largo – Very Slow
 Antonin Dvorak – Largo from “New World
Symphony” (1893) Movement II.
Dvorak - Symphony No. 9 "From the New
World" - II (part 1) - YouTube
 Adagio - Slow
 Samuel Barber – Adagio for Strings
(1936).
 Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings (1938)
 Andante – Walking Tempo
 Tchaikovsky – Symphony #5 II
Andante Cantabile (1888).
Horn Solo's Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony
Stefan Dohr - YouTube
 Moderato - Moderately
 Sergei Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto
#2
I. Moderato (1901)
II. Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto Number
2 Movement I.
 Allegro – fast and joyful.
– Eine Kleine Nachtmusik K. 525
 Mozart
Movement I. Allegro (1787).
W.A.Mozart Eine kleine Nachtmusik
(Complete, rec.1973) Slovak Chamber
Orchestra - YouTube
 Vivace – very fast and lively
 TchaikovskySymphony #4 IV. Allegro
Vivace (1877).
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4, 4th mvmt -
YouTube
 The “continuum of tempo”

etto, ino issimo

Grave Largo Adagio Andante Moderato Allegro Vivo Presto

q= 40-50 60-70 70-80 80-100 100-119 120-140 140-160 160+
 Tempo markings can be altered
with suffixes
 etto,ino – less than what it is.
 Brings the tempo “toward the center of the
continuum of tempo”.
 issimo – more than what it is.
 Brings the tempo “away from the center of
the continuum of tempo”.
 Ex. Allegretto = slower than Allegro.
 Ex. Vivissimo = Faster than Vivace
 Some other descriptive terms
 Molto, Assai – very  Cantabile – singingly
 Meno – less  Grazioso – gracefully
 Scherzo – joke  Pesante – heavily
 Mosso – motion  Sempre – always
 Con brio – briskly  Sostenuto – sustained
 Deciso – decisively  Batutta – one measure is
 Ma non troppo – but not one beat
too much  Espressivo – expressivley
 Comodo – comfortably  Maestoso – Majestically
 Tempo primo – back to  Con Moto – with motion
original tempo
 Define the following tempo
markings
 Adagietto
 Larghetto
 Andantino
 Allegro Molto
 Adagio assai
 Allegro ma non troppo
 Prestissimo
 Allegro con brio