How fast, and what mood
Stage 2 was when and how long. Stage 3 is everything else printed on the page — and it opens with the words that set the character of the whole piece.
At the top left of almost every piece, just above the first bar, sits a word or two in italics: Adagio, Allegro moderato, Andante cantabile. It tells you two things at once — roughly how fast, and, just as much, what mood to play in.
The ladder, slow to fast
Most of these words are Italian, and they line up from slowest to quickest. The character matters more than the number — a metronome speed is a modern guess, and a contested one.
| Word | What it asks for |
|---|---|
| Grave | heavy, solemn, the slowest |
| Largo | broad, dignified |
| Larghetto | a little less broad than Largo |
| Adagio | "at ease" — slow, songful, room to breathe |
| Andante | "walking" — a comfortable moving pace |
| Andantino | a little more than Andante — usually quicker, sometimes slower (see below) |
| Moderato | moderate, middle of the road |
| Allegretto | lightly quick, not as far as Allegro |
| Allegro | "cheerful, lively" → and so, quick |
| Vivace | vivid, full of life |
| Presto | very fast |
| Prestissimo | as fast as can be played |
Hear it — the word is a character, not a speed
Play this little phrase, then drag the tempo. At a slow setting it's an Adagio — it leans on each note. Pushed up, it becomes an Allegro — it skips. It isn't the same phrase played faster; it's a different piece.
Allegro does not mean "fast" first. It means cheerful, lively. A cheerful piece happens to move along, so over time the word came to imply quick as well — but the mood is the instruction. Play an Allegro like you're in a good mood, not like you're late.
Here is the same phrase twice. Nothing on the staff changes; the word at the front changes everything about how you'd play it.
Try it
Try
Set the metronome to 60 and play a one-octave G major scale, one note per click — that's around Adagio. Now 90, two notes per click feel — Andante. Now 120 — Allegro. Say the word out loud before each one and let your bow arm take on that mood before you start.
The usual mistake
Treating the word as an exact number and chasing it. The words are bands, not points, and the feel is the real instruction. The other mistake is playing every Allegro flat out: a Classical Allegro is more contained than a modern one — brisk and clear, not a race. When in doubt, take an Allegro a notch slower than feels exciting and let it settle.