Tempo

Tempo (Italian for ’time’ from the Latin tempus) is the speed of a song or piece of music. It is measured in beats per minute, or BPM. For example, if a song has 4 beats per bar at 100 BPM, there will be 25 bars per minute.

Basic tempo markings

From slowest to fastest:

• Larghissimo – extremely slow (24 BPM and under)
• Grave – slow and solem (25–41 BPM)
• Lento – very slow (38–57 BPM)
• Largo – slowly (47–60 BPM)
• Larghetto – quite broadly (52–64 BPM)
• Adagio – slow and stately (60–74 BPM)
• Adagietto – quite slow (60-68 BPM)
• Andante – at a walking pace (76–97 BPM)
• Moderato – moderately (98–112 BPM)
• Allegretto – by the mid-19th century, moderately fast (102–110 BPM)
• Allegro – fast, quickly and bright (115–143 BPM) (molto allegro is slightly faster than allegro, but always in its range; 124-146 BPM).
• Vivace – lively and fast (136–160 BPM)
• Presto – very quickly (162–200 BPM)
• Prestissimo – extremely fast, even faster than presto (201 BPM and over)

Terms for tempo change:

• Ritardando – little by little slowing down
• Ritenuto - slow down suddenly
• Accelerando – gradually accelerating
• Rallentando - slowing down

Additional terms

• A piacere – literally “at pleasure”
• A tempo – at the same speed from the beginning
• L’istesso tempo or Lo stesso tempo – at the same speed
• Tempo comodo – at a comfortable (normal) speed
• Tempo di… – the speed of a … (such as Tempo di valse (speed of a waltz, ≈60 bpm), Tempo di marcia (speed of a march, ≈120 bpm))
• Tempo semplice – simple, regular speed, plainly

Common qualifiers

• alla – in the manner or style of, as in:
• alla breve – in short style,
• alla marcia – in the style of a march (e.g., Beethoven, op. 101)
• all’ ongarese – in Hungarian style
• alla (danza) tedesca – in the style of the Ländler (c. 1800), and similar dances in rather quick triple meter (see Beethoven, op. 79, op. 130)
• alla turca – in the Turkish style, that is, in imitation of Turkish military music (Janizary music), which became popular in Europe in the late 18th century (e.g., Mozart, K. 331, K. 384)
• alla zingarese – in the style of Gypsy music
• assai – very much, as in allegro assai, quite fast
• ben – well, as in ben marcato (well marked or accented)
• con – with,
• con bravura – with skill
• con brio – with vigor and spirit
• con fuoco – with fire
• con moto – with motion
• fugato – in fugal style,
• in modo – in the style of, in the style of: in modo napolitano (in Neapolitan style), in modo di marcia funebre (in the style of a funeral march)
• meno – less, as in meno mosso (less quickly)
• appena – almost none,
• misterioso – mysterious
• molto – much, very, as in molto allegro (very quick) or molto adagio (very slow)
• non troppo – not too much, e.g. allegro non troppo (or allegro ma non troppo) means “fast, but not too much”
• non tanto – not so much
• più – more, as in più allegro (more quickly);
• poco – little, as in Poco adagio
• poco a poco – little by little, bit by bit
• quasi – like a … (Più allegro quasi presto, “faster, like presto”)
• senza – without, as in senza interruzione (without pause), senza tempo
• sostenuto – sustained, prolonged
• subito – suddenly