Affrettando

What it means

Affrettando derives from the Italian affrettare, “to hurry”, and calls for a quickening that carries the character of haste. Unlike the neutral accelerando, which denotes only the acceleration as such, here an evaluation resonates: the music seems driven, restless, perhaps even nervous.

From the related words it differs in colouring. Stringendo means a drawing together in which, along with the tempo, the tension also grows and which frequently leads toward a climax. Incalzando means a pressing in the sense of pursuing, as though the music were being driven onward. Affrettando, by contrast, stresses the haste itself — the tempo picks up because the motion finds no calm. The boundaries between these words are fluid and are handled differently by composers.

In the notation

The marking stands in italics above the staff and holds from that point, usually for a short stretch. An express end is marked by a tempo or a new tempo marking. Because the quickening here often spans only a few bars, the dashed continuation line usual with longer accelerando passages is absent.

Musical use

Affrettando stands typically in sections that depict agitation or distress — in operatic music at corresponding stage situations, in instrumental music in developments and transitions that press toward a goal. The marking is distinctly rarer than accelerando and works precisely for that reason: where it stands, a particular expression is meant, not a mere change of tempo.

Performance practice

Let the quickening arise from the motion, not from a jolt: set out on the first note still in the old tempo and pick up only afterward. See that despite the haste the notes keep their full duration — whoever plays hurriedly shortens involuntarily and loses the sound. Hold the dynamics at first, instead of automatically becoming louder; the unrest should come from the tempo. And plan where you arrive: even a hasty affrettando needs a goal, or it merely seems imprecise.