---
title: "Tempo Markings: Allegro, Andante, Adagio and BPM · Piakno"
description: "Tempo markings say how fast a piece goes. A word at the top of the score, such as Adagio, Andante, or Allegro, gives the speed and the character, and a metronome mark such as ♩ = 120 gives the exact beats per minute."
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# Tempo markings

> Tempo markings say how fast a piece goes. A word at the top of the score, such as Adagio, Andante, or Allegro, gives the speed and the character, and a metronome mark such as ♩ = 120 gives the exact beats per minute.

Also called Tempo terms

## What do the tempo words mean?

The words are Italian, from the centuries when Italian was the language of printed music, and every country still uses them. Each names a mood as much as a speed: andante is "walking", allegro "cheerful". The numbers beside them are the ranges metronome tables usually give, a convention that varies from one edition to the next rather than a definition.

| Term | Meaning | About (BPM) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Grave | Very slow and solemn | 30–39 |
| Largo | Broad, very slow | 40–59 |
| Larghetto | A little less slow than largo | 60–65 |
| Adagio | Slow, at ease | 66–75 |
| Andante | At a walking pace | 76–107 |
| Moderato | Moderate | 108–119 |
| Allegro | Fast and bright | 120–155 |
| Vivace | Lively and quick | 156–175 |
| Presto | Very fast | 176–199 |
| Prestissimo | Extremely fast | 200–250 |

## How do you read ♩ = 120?

A metronome mark gives the speed exactly: the note shown, so many to the minute. ♩ = 120 means 120 quarter notes a minute, two every second. In 6/8 the mark is usually written with a dotted quarter, such as ♩. = 60, because that is the beat the music is felt in.

*A tempo marking where the score begins: the word and the metronome mark.*

## Slowing down and speeding up

Inside a piece the tempo can bend. rit. (ritardando) and rall. (rallentando) both mean gradually slower, accel. (accelerando) gradually faster, and a tempo returns to the speed before the change. A fermata (𝄐) over a note holds it longer than written, for as long as the moment needs.

*An ending: rit. slows the notes leading to the last one, and the fermata holds it.*

> A tempo word is not a metronome setting. Two recordings of the same Allegro can be twenty beats a minute apart and both be right; when a composer wants a number, they write the metronome mark.

## Common questions

### What BPM is allegro?

Roughly 120 to 155 beats per minute in most metronome tables, with allegro moderato toward the lower end and allegro vivace toward the top. A metronome mark from the composer, where there is one, overrides any table.

### What does "a tempo" mean in music?

Return to the original speed. It cancels a rit., an accel. or a passage marked slower, and the music picks up the tempo it had before the change.

### What is the difference between ritardando and rallentando?

In practice, almost none: both slow down gradually, and scores use them interchangeably. The one that differs is ritenuto (riten.), which means held back at once rather than little by little.

## The course works through this in:

- [Lesson 12 · Tempo marks: the word and the number at the top of the score](https://piakno.com/course/piano-foundations/lesson/12)

## Related entries

- [Note values](https://piakno.com/theory/note-values)
- [Time signature](https://piakno.com/theory/time-signature)
- [Dynamics](https://piakno.com/theory/dynamics)
- [Music notation symbols](https://piakno.com/theory/music-symbols)

- [Music theory reference](https://piakno.com/theory)