Allegro assai

What it means

Assai means “very” and strengthens the preceding tempo word. Allegro assai thus calls for a tempo above the ordinary Allegro that approaches the range of Presto without bearing that name. There is no fixed figure; the marking describes a ratio.

Assai was in older usage occasionally also read as “sufficiently, enough”, which would soften rather than intensify the marking. This reading counts as outdated today but still turns up in the literature on performance practice. The strengthening meaning is the binding one.

Allegro assai is to be distinguished from Allegro molto — both intensify, molto counting as the somewhat more emphatic word, yet the gradation differs from composer to composer. Allegro ma non troppo has the opposite effect, expressly holding back.

In the notation

The marking stands above the first system of a movement or section, both words in italics. It can become the movement’s name. Metronome figures in brackets frequently come from the editor and are to be understood as a guide.

Musical use

The designation is used where a movement is to be especially urgent or brilliant: in closing movements, in final sections of operatic scenes, in virtuosic concerto movements. Because Allegro already denotes a fast tempo on its own, the addition is a clear signal — the composer wants to leave no doubt that the upper end of the span is meant.

Assai is here usually understood in the sense of “very”, in older literature occasionally as “enough”.

Performance practice

Measure the tempo at the densest places and settle it only afterward; a beginning that feels comfortable says little about the rest. Keep the touch, bow or tongue terse, so that the motion has room. Count in large units and think in phrases rather than bars, or the performance becomes small-scale. In an ensemble watch especially the joint entries after rests — at high tempo the most inaccuracies arise there.