Tempo
This chapter examines changing approaches to tempo and the ways composers specified it in their music. Factors influencing the performer's choice of tempo are considered, together with evidence for a variety of approaches during the period. Attitudes towards the metronome and questions about the reliability of metronome marks are investigated. Late 18th- and early 19th-century conventions for specifying tempo, based on tempo giusto, through a combination of metre, tempo terms (usually Italian), and the note values employed in a piece are described with reference to documentary evidence. Comparison of Beethoven's use of these conventions with his metronome marks suggests remarkable consistency. The adoption of the metronome may have contributed to the weakening of these conventions, and among later 19th-century composers they can be no longer relied on, making it more difficult to determine their intentions where no metronome marks exist.
Keywords: tempo, metronome, tempo terms, metre, tempo giusto
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .