Tempo

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

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.

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

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 (45–50 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"
• 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