Allargando

Growing broader

Allargando comes from “allargare”, “to make broader, to widen”. In music it is a gradual slowing down in which the sound at the same time becomes broader and weightier. You hear it above all at endings and climaxes, where the music spreads out instead of simply running down. It is also described as “getting slower and broader” or “gradually slower and weightier”.

Allargando and rallentando

Rallentando asks in general to get slower; it names the change of tempo. Allargando asks for the same and also prescribes the character: wider, fuller, weightier. For performance this means: with allargando you do not merely lengthen the gaps between the notes but give each note more sound. Some dictionaries give “slower with crescendo” as a second meaning, which underlines the growing fullness.

Where it appears

Allargando often appears at the end of a movement or section, before a final chord or a fermata. As with all tempo marks it remains in effect until a new mark appears: an “a tempo” leads back to the previous tempo, a “tempo primo” to the opening tempo.

Common mistakes

• Only getting slower: Allargando also asks for fullness.
• Broadening too early: The broadening should increase evenly.
• Slowing down unevenly: The tempo falls steadily, not in steps.