Scan 86
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians: ed. by J. A. Fuller …, Volume 5, 1910
36 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 68. See the scan on archive.org.
1più andante is distinctly stated to be slower, and andantino quicker, than andante. [However incorrect it may be, the general use of composers is to make andantino quicker than andante. See vol. i. p. 83.] In a recent edition of Schumann's 'Kreisleriana' we find the composer's own indication for the middle movement of No. 3, 'Etwas langsamer,' incorrectly translated by the editor poco più andante which coming immediately after animato has a very odd effect. Schubert also appears to prefer the conventional use of the word, since he marks the first movement of his Fantasia for Piano and Violin, op. 159, Andante molto. But it seems clear that, with the exception just noted, the great composers generally intended the words to bear their literal interpretation. Beethoven, for instance, places his intentions on the subject beyond a doubt, for the 4th variation in the Finale of the Sonata, op. 109, is inscribed in Italian 'Un poco meno andante, cio è, un poco più adagio come il tema'—a little less andante, that is, a little more slowly like (than?) the theme,' and also in German Etwas langsamer als das Thema—somewhat slower than the theme. Instances of the use of più andante occur in Var. 5 of Beethoven's Trio, op. 1, No. 3, in Brahms's Violin Sonata, op. 78, where it follows (of course with the object of quickening) the tempo of Adagio, etc. Handel, in the air 'Revenge, Timotheus cries!' and in the choruses 'For unto us' and 'The Lord gave the word,' gives the direction Andante allegro, which may be translated 'going along merrily.'
3When in the course of a composition the tempo alters, but still bears a definite relation to the original speed, the proportion in which the new tempo stands to the other may be expressed in various ways. When the speed of notes of the same species is to be exactly doubled, the words doppio movimento are used to denote the change, thus the quick portion of Ex. 1 would be played precisely as though it were written as in Ex. 2.
5BRAHMS, Trio, Op. 8 (old edition).
7Allegro doppio movimento.
91. Adagio non troppo.
112. Adagio.
13Another way of expressing proportional tempi is by the arithmetical sign for equality (=), placed between two notes of different values. Thus \( \frac{1}{2} = \frac{1}{4} \) would mean that a crotchet in the one movement must have the same duration as a minim in the other, and so on. But this method is subject to the serious drawback that it is possible to understand the sign in two opposed senses, according as the first of the two note-values is taken to refer to the new tempo or to that just quitted. On this point composers are by no means agreed, nor are they even always consistent, for Brahms, in his 'Variations on a Theme by Paganini,' uses the same sign in opposite senses, first in passing from Var. 3 to Var. 4, where a \( \frac{1}{2} \) of Var. 4 equals a \( \frac{1}{4} \) of Var. 3 (Ex. 3), and afterwards from Var. 9 to Var 10, a \( \frac{1}{2} \) of Var. 10 being equal to a \( \frac{1}{4} \) of Var. 9.
15Ex. 3. Var. 8.
17Var. 4. tr.
19Ex. 4. Var. 9.
21Var. 10. ( \( \frac{1}{2} \) )
23A far safer means of expressing proportion is by a definite verbal direction, a method frequently adopted by Schumann, as for instance in the 'Faust' music, where he says Ein Takt wie vorher zwei— one bar equal to two of the preceding movement; and Um die Hälfte langsamer (by which is to be understood twice as slow, not half as slow again), and so in numerous other instances.
25When there is a change of rhythm, as from common to triple time, while the total length of a bar remains unaltered, the words l'istesso tempo, signifying 'the same speed,' are written where the change takes place, as in the following example, where the crotchet of the 2-4 movement is equal to the dotted crotchet of that in 6-8, and so, bar for bar, the tempo is unchanged.
27BEETHOVEN, Bagatelle, Op. 119, No. 6.
29Allegretto.
31L'istesso tempo.
33The same words are occasionally used when there is no alteration of rhythm, as a warning against a possible change of speed, as in Var. 3
351 Beethoven's Italian, however, does not appear to have been faultless, for the German translation above shows him to have used the word come to express 'than' instead of 'like.'
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