Tempo

"Beats per minute" redirects here. For the rate of heart beats, see Heart rate.

The first two measures of Mozart's Sonata XI, which indicates the tempo as "Andante grazioso" and a modern editor's metronome marking: "♪ = 120".

Tempo (Italian for 'time' from the Latin tempus^[1]) 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 solemn (25–45 BPM)
• Lento – very slow (40–60 BPM)
• Largo – slowly (45–60 BPM)
• Larghetto – quite broadly (60–69 BPM)
• Adagio – slow and stately (66–76 BPM)
• Adagietto – quite slow (72–76 BPM)
• Andante – at a walking pace (76–108 BPM)
• Andantino – quite faster than andante (but some cases it means a bit slower than andante) (80–108 BPM)
• Moderato – moderately (98–112 BPM)
• Allegretto – by the mid-19th century, moderately fast (102–110 BPM)
• Allegro – fast, quickly and bright (120–156 BPM) (molto allegro is slightly faster than allegro, but always in its range; 124-156 BPM).
• Vivace – lively and fast (156–176 BPM)
• Vivacissimo – very fast and lively (172–176 BPM)
• Allegrissimo – very fast (172–176 BPM)
• Presto – very quickly (168–200 BPM)
• Prestissimo – extremely fast, even faster than presto (200 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"^[2]
• 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^[3] (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)^[4]
  • 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^[5]
• ben – well, as in ben marcato (well marked or accented)
• con – with,
  • con bravura – with skill^[6]
  • con brio – with vigor and spirit^[7]
  • 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)^[8]
• appena – almost none,
• misterioso – mysterious
• molto – much, very, as in molto allegro (very quick) or molto adagio (very slow)^[9]
• 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

References

1. Costa, Daniel (2024-07-25). "Tempo | Definition, Music, Description, & Notation | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
2. Apel (1969), p. 42; for the literal translation see the online Italian-English dictionary at WordReference.com.
3. Apel (1969), p. 505.
4. Apel (1969), p. 834.
5. Apel (1969), p. 61.
6. Online Italian-English dictionary at WordReference.com.
7. Apel (1969), p. 112.
8. Apel (1969), p. 520.
9. Apel (1969), p. 537.