Calmando

What it means

Calmando comes from calmare, “to calm,” and asks that the music gradually come to rest. The ending -ando, as in accelerando and rallentando, denotes a process: the calming develops over a stretch.

More is meant than a slowing down. Along with the tempo, volume and tension usually recede as well; the movement loses its urgency. In this calmando differs from rallentando, which concerns the tempo alone.

It is also to be distinguished from tranquillo and calmo: these denote a state — play calmly — whereas calmando means the way there. After a calmando there often follows a section with such a state marking.

In the notation

The word is written in italics above the staff and applies from that point, usually over a few bars. A decrescendo hairpin or a dashed continuation line may be added. Its effect ends with a new marking or with the beginning of the calm section that was being steered toward.

Musical use

The marking appears in transitions that lead from an agitated into a calm section, after climaxes, and before closing sections. In song and opera literature it marks places where an agitation subsides. It is the counterpart to the urging words such as stringendo and incalzando and, with them, belongs to the stock of means by which tension is shaped.

The marking asks for a gradual calming in tempo and expression. It often stands at the end of agitated sections, before a calmer part follows. A new, calmer tempo, marked with its own direction, often follows.

Performance practice

Let the calming arise from the movement and distribute it over the whole stretch; a sudden drawing back sounds like a break. Connect tempo, dynamics, and articulation — the notes may become softer, not only slower. Decide where the calm is reached and steer toward it. And take care that the sound remains sustaining throughout.