Italian musical terms and Musical terminology.

Below is a list of terms used in music performance directions which are likely to occur on printed or sheet music. Many of these terms have an Italian etymology.

A

• accelerando (It.) – "accelerate" – Gradually increase the tempo.
• a cappella (It.) – "in the manner of chapel music" – Without instrumental accompaniment.
• adagio (It.) – "at ease" – Slowly.
• adagietto (It.) – "rather slow"
• adagissimo (It.) – "very slow"
• ad libitium or ad lib (It.) – "as one pleases" – The speed and manner are left to the performer's discretion.
• affrettando (It.) – Hurrying, pressing onwards.
• agitato (It.) – "agitated"
• alla breve (It.) – "according to the breve" – Indicates two minims in a bar, formerly four.
• allegro (It.) – "joyful" – Fast.
• andante (It.) – "walking" – Moderate tempo, just this side of slow.
• animato (It.) – "animatedly"
• appassionato (It.) – "passionately"
• arpeggio (It.) – "like a harp" – Used to indicate that the consecutive notes of a certain chord are to be played quickly one after another, instead of at the same moment. In piano music this is sometimes a solution used to play a wide-ranged chord which, technically speaking, cannot be played simultaneously with one hand. Music played on the limited hardware of video game computers uses a similar technique to create a chord from one tone generator. Arpeggios are accompaniment patterns.
• arco (It.) – "bow"
• assai (It.) – "very"
• attacca (It.) – "attack" – Used at the end of a movement, this is a direction to begin (attack) the next movement immediately, without a gap or pause.

B

• brillante (It.) – "brillantly"
• brio (It.) – "vigour"
• brioso or con brio (It.) – "vigorously"
• broken chord (Eng.). – A chord in which the notes are not all played at once. They may follow one after the other, or two notes may be immediately followed by another two, for example.

C

• cantabile (It.) – "singingly" – In a singing style.
• cesura or caesura (It.) – "a cutting" – Indicates complete break in sound.
• col legno (It.) – Indicates strings are to be struck with the wood of the bow; also battuta col legno: "beaten with wood"
• common time (Eng.) – The time signature 4/4: four beats per measure, each beat a quarter note. 4/4 is sometimes written on the musical staff as C. The symbol is not a "C" as an abbreviation for "common time", but a broken circle: the full circle at one time stood for triple time, 3/4.
• con (It.) – "with"
• con moto (It.) – "with motion"
• con sordino (It.) – "with mute"
• crescendo or cresc. (It.) – "growing" – Play gradually louder than previously. (cf. diminuendo, dynamics).
• cut time (Eng.) – Synonymous to the meter 2/2: two half-note beats per measure. This is notated and played like common time (4/4), except with the note lengths halved. Cut time is denoted by three quarters of a circle with a vertical line through it, which resembles the cent symbol ¢. This comes from a literal "cut" of the C symbol of common time. Thus, a quarter note in cut time is only half a beat long. A measure has only two beats. The other common meter with two-beat measures is fast 6/8, in which note lengths are 2/3 their normal values.

D

• deciso (It.) – "decidedly"
• diminuendo or dim. (It.) – "dwindling" – Play with gradually decreasing volume (cf. crescendo).
• divisi or div. (It.) – "divided" – Indicates that a part with two or more simultaneous notes should be playes with one player for each note. Usually used within sections of instruments.
• dolce (It.) – "sweetly"
• dolente (It.) – "sorrowfully"
• dynamics (Eng.) – Refers to the relative volume of the musician playing the work.

E

• espressivo (It.) – "expressively"

F

• forte or f – "loudly" – Indicates that a section should be played loudly. The related term fortissimo, ff, directs the musician is to play very loudly. See dynamics.
• fuoco – "fire"

G

• geschwind (Ger.) – "quickly"
• getragen (Ger.) – "sustainedly"
• giocoso (It.) – "gayly"
• glissando (It.) – "sliding" – A continuous sliding from one pitch to another (a "true" glissando), or an incidental scale played while moving from one melodic note to another (an "effective" glissando).
• grazioso (It.) – "gracefully"
• gIusto (It.) – "strictly, exactly"

H

• Hauptstimme (Ger.) – "chief part" – designating the contrapuntal line of primary importance, in opposition to nebenstimme

I

• immer (Ger.) – "always" – Indicates that the last directive given still applies.
• impetuoso (It.) – "impetuously"
• in altissimo (It.) – "in the highest" – Indicates that the section should be played an octave higher than written.
• incalzando (It.) – Indicates that a section should be played with increasing speed.

K

• kräftig (Ger.) – "strongly"

L

• lacrimoso (It.) – "sadly"
• lamentoso (It.) – "mournfully"
• langsam (Ger.) – "slowly"
• larghetto (It.) – "slowly" (but not as slow as largo)
• largo (It.) – "broad" – Very slowly.
• legato (It.) – "tied" – Smoothly, in a connected manner (cf. portato, staccato).
• leggiero (It.) – "lightly, delicately"
• lent (Fr.) – "slowly"
• loco (It.) – Play as written (generally used to cancel an 8va direction).
• lusingando (It.) – "coaxingly"

M

• ma (It.) – "but"
• ma non troppo (It.) – "but not too much"
• maestoso (It.) – "majestically"
• marcia (It.) – "a march"
• martellato (It.) – "hammered out"
• marzial (It.) – "martially"
• mässig (Ger.) – "moderately"
• meno (It.) – "less"
• moderato (It.) – "moderate"
• morendo (It.) – "dying away" in tone or tempo.
• mosso (It.) – "motion" – Used in conjunction with "piú" or "meno", respectively, for "more movingly" or "less movingly" (about tempo).
• mezza voce (It.) – "half voice" – With subdued or moderated volume.
• mezzo forte (It.) – "half loudly" – Directs the musician to play moderately loud. See dynamics.
• mezzo piano (It.) – "half softly" – Directs the musician to play moderately soft. See dynamics.
• mezzo-soprano (It.) – "half soprano" – A female singer with a range usually extending from the A below middle C to the F an eleventh above middle C. Mezzo-sopranos generally have a darker vocal tone than sopranos, and their vocal range is between that of a soprano and that of an alto.
• munter (Ger.) – "lively"

N

• Nebenstimme (Ger.) – "under part" – A secondary contrapuntal part, always occurring simultaneously with, and subsidiary to, the Hauptstimme.
• nicht zu schnell (Ger.) – "not too fast"

O

• ossia (It.) – "or, let it be" – Denotes an alternate way of performing a passage often notated with a footnoote, additional small notes or an additional staff.

P

• piano or p (It.) – "softly" – Indicates that a section should be played softly. The related term pianissimo, pp, directs the musician to play very softly. See dynamics.
• piú (It.) – "more"
• pizzicato or pizz. – "plucked" – Indicates to string players that notes in a section should be plucked rather than bowed.
• poco (It.) – "little"
• poco a poco (It.) – "little by little"
• poi – (It.) – "then"
• portamento (It.) – "a carrying" – Passing from one tone to another by sliding between the notes, usually in voice or strings. Common in Romantic music.
• portato (It.) – "carried" – Indicates that notes should be played non-legato but not completely separated (cf. legato, staccato).
• precipitato (It.) – "precipitately"
• presto (It.) – "very quickly"
• prima volta (It.) – "first time"
• primo (It.) – "first"

Q

• quasi – "as if" – Almost.

R

• rallentando or rall. (It.) – "slowing"
• rasch – (Ger.) "fast"
• rinforzando or rf. (It.) – To stress by strength
• ritardando or rit. (It.) – "slowing"
• roulade – (Fr.) – "a rolling" – As a florid vocal phrase.
• rubato – (It.) – "stolen" – Flexibility of tempo within a musical phrase for expressive effect. Common in Romantic music.

S

• scherzando (Ger.) – "playfully"
• scherzo (Ger.) – "a joke" (originated with Beethoven)
• schneller (Ger.) – "faster"
• scordatura (It.) – An alternate tuning used for the open strings of a string instrument. External link: About Scordatura and the Viola d'amore.
• sempre (It.) – "always"
• senza (It.) – "without"
• senza sordino (It.) – "without mute"
• sforzando or sfz (It.) – "using force" – Giving a strong accent.
• simile (It.) – "similarly" – Instructs the musician to continue applying the preceding directive, whatever it was, to the following passage.
• soave (It.) – "smoothly"
• sostenuto (It.) – "sustainedly"
• sotto voce (It.) – "under voice" – Used as a direction instructing the singer or instrumentalist to proceed in a more understated or more subtle fashion.
• spiritoso (It.) – "spiritedly"
• staccato (It.) – "detached" – An indication to play with a sharp attack, and briefly (cf. legato and portato). In music notation, a small dot under the note indicates that the note is to be sounded staccato.
• smorzando or smorz. (It.) – "dying away" – A directive to "smother" the notes.
• subito – (It.) "suddenly"
• sul ponticello (It.) – "on the bridge" – In string playing, an indication to bow very near to the bridge, producing a characteristic glassy sound, which emphasizes the higher harmonics at the expense of the fundamental.
• sul tasto (It.) – "on the fingerboard" – In string playing, an indication to bow over the fingerboard.

T

• tenuto (It.) – "held" – Touching on a note slightly longer than usual, but without generally altering the note's value.
• tremolo (It.) – "trembling" – A rapid repetition of the same note, or an alternation between two or more notes. It can also mean a rapid and repetitive variation in pitch for the duration of a note. It is notated by a diagonal bar across the note stem or a detached bar for a set of notes.
• tre corda (It.) – "three strings" – Directs piano players to release the soft pedal (cf. una corda).

U

• una corda (It.) – "one string" – Directs piano players to depress the soft pedal, reducing the volume of the sound. In many pianos, this literally results in the hammer striking one string rather than two or three (cf. tre corda).
• unisono or unis. (It.) – "in unison" – Indicates that several players are to play the same part. Often used when returning from divisi.

V

• vivace (It.) – "lively"
• volti subito or V.S. (It.) – "turn page quickly" – Found often in orchestral parts.

Z

• Zeitmass (Ger.) – "tempo"

Tempo

Dynamics - volume

Moods

Musical expression (general)

Directions

Techniques

Basic tempo markings

Common tempo markings in Italian are:

• Largo - slowly and broadly
• Larghetto - a little less slow than largo
• Adagio - slowly
• Andante - at a walking pace
• Moderato - at a moderate tempo
• Allegretto - not quite allegro
• Allegro - quickly
• Presto - fast
• Prestissimo - very fast

Additional tempo markings

There are additional tempo markings which are used less frequently, among them:

• Larghissimo - as slow as reasonably possible
• Adagietto - slightly faster than adagio

Mood markings with a tempo connotation

Some markings that primarily mark a mood (or character) also have a tempo connotation:

• Vivace - lively (which generally indicates a rather fast movement)
• Maestoso - majestic or stately (which is generally a solemn slow movement)

Terms for change in tempo

There is also a set of terms that are used to designate a change of tempo:

• Accelerando - speeding up (abbreviation: accel.)
• Rallentando - slowing down (abbreviation: rall.)
• Ritardando - slowing down (abbreviation: rit.)
• Ritenuto - slightly slower

These generally designate a gradual change in tempo; for immediate tempo shifts, composers normally just provide the designation for the new tempo. There is also:

• A tempo - return to the previous tempo after change(s).

which also indicates an immediate, not a gradual, tempo change. Composers typically use these terms for tempo change even if they have written their initial tempo marking in some other language.

More complex and less precise (though vital in many composers' music) is:

• Rubato - free adjustment of tempo for expressive purposes

Tempo markings in other languages

Although Italian has been the prevalent language for tempo markings throughout most of classical music history, many composers have written tempo indications in their own language.

French tempo markings

French baroque composers such as for example François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau used French tempo indications. Common tempo markings in French are:

• Grave - slowly and solemnly
• Lent - slowly
• Modéré - at a moderate tempo
• Vif - lively
• Vite - fast

German tempo markings

Many composers have used German tempo markings. Typical German tempo markings are:

• Langsam - slowly
• Mäßig (or Mässig) - moderately
• Lebhaft - lively (mood)
• Rasch - quickly
• Schnell - fast

One of the first German composers to use tempo markings in his native language was Ludwig van Beethoven. The one using the most elaborate combined tempo and mood markings was probably Gustav Mahler (sometimes even mixing German with Italian tempo indications): e.g. 2nd movement of his 9th symphony: Im tempo eines gemächlichen Ländlers, etwas täppisch und sehr derb, indicating a folk-dance-like movement, with some vulgarity in the execution.

Tempo markings in English

English indications, for example quickly, have also been used, by Benjamin Britten, amongst many others. Australian composer Percy Grainger notoriously refused to use foreign terminology, using colloquial English such as "full steam" and "clingingly".

Rushing and dragging

When performers unintentionally speed up, they are said to rush. The similar term for unintentionally slowing down is drag. Both of these actions are undesirable, although dragging is usually worse, since it tends to suck the energy from a performance. Because of their negative connotation, neither rush nor drag (nor their equivalents in other languages) are often used as tempo indications in scores, Mahler being a notable exception: as part of a tempo indication he used schleppend ("dragging") in the first movement of his 1st symphony, for example.

Can tempo terms be defined with the metronome?

Most musicians would agree that it is not possible to give Beats per minute (BPM) equivalents for these terms; the actual number of beats per minute in a piece marked allegro, for example, will depend on the music itself. A piece consisting mainly of minims (half notes) can be played very much quicker in terms of BPM than a piece consisting mainly of semi-quavers (sixteenth notes) but still be described with the same word.

Metronome manufacturers usually do assign BPM values to the traditional terms, in an attempt, perhaps misguided, to be helpful. For instance, a Wittner model MT-50 electronic metronome manufactured in the early 1990's gives the following values:

• Largo = 40-60 BPM
• Larghetto = 60-66 BPM
• Adagio = 66-76 BPM
• Maestoso = 70-80 BPM
• Andante = 76-108 BPM
• Moderato = 106-120 BPM
• Allegro = 120-168 BPM
• Presto = 168-208 BPM

From Classical Music

• Animato
• Arco
• Assai
• Col legno
• Con brio
• Con sordino
• Crescendo
• Diminuendo
• Dolce
• Espressivo
• Fine
• Forte
• Fortissimo
• Grave
• Largo
• Larghetto
• Legato
• Lento
• Piu
• Poco
• Presto
• Quasi
• Rallentando
• Ritardando
• Rubato
• Sans
• Sempre
• Troppo
• Vivace

External links

• British vs. American Musical Terms
• Clef.org glossary of musical terms
• Choral Conducting TermsQuasi somewhat