Adagietto

What it means

Adagietto is the diminutive form of Adagio. The Italian ending -etto softens the base word, and here that means: somewhat less slow, somewhat less heavy, a little more mobile than an Adagio. The tempo thus lies roughly between Adagio and Andante, without a fixed boundary being definable. Where metronome figures are given, the figures vary widely; common tables range from about 46 to 80 beats per minute — depending on edition and work this can deviate considerably.

Alongside the tempo meaning there is a second, rarer use: Adagietto as the title of a short slow movement. The ending then refers not to the speed but to the extent — a little Adagio. Which of the two meanings is intended is shown by the position of the marking: above the first system as a tempo word, in the movement heading as a movement title.

In the notation

As a tempo marking the word stands at the beginning of a movement or section above the staff, frequently supplemented by a character word such as cantabile or espressivo. Metronome figures beside it often come from the editor and are to be read as a guide.

Musical use

As a movement title Adagietto stands for calm, songful music that does not, however, claim the solemnity of a full Adagio. The tone is more lyrical than weighty, the melody leads and the accompaniment stays plain. In the orchestral music of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries movements so titled like to appear in reduced scoring, which underlines the chamber-music character.

Well known is the fourth movement of Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, played by strings and harp alone; Luchino Visconti used it in 1971 in his film Death in Venice. Georges Bizet had already written an Adagietto for muted strings alone in his first L’Arlésienne suite, first performed in 1872.

Performance practice

Take the tempo so that the melody can breathe in large arcs without standing still — too slow an Adagietto falls apart into single notes. Check how long the longest note values must sound, and set the basic tempo accordingly. Keep the accompanying figures even and quiet; they carry the motion without stressing it. And resist the temptation to stretch every phrase: the calm here arises from the steady pulse, not from many small delays.