Cheerful
Cheerful, light.
What it means
Heiter (“cheerful”) is a German performance marking and calls for a cheerful, light performance. What is meant is a relaxed joy without high spirits: bright sound, light articulation, a pulse without heaviness.
Within the words for cheerfulness the differences lie in the colouring. Lustig means plain, carefree merriness, gioioso radiant joy, giocoso the playful. Heiter designates relaxed, balanced joy — friendly, not exuberant.
The marking concerns expression, not tempo. Even a moderate tempo can seem cheerful if the articulation stays light.
In the notation
The word stands above the staff at the beginning of a movement or section, in German-language editions in place of an Italian marking, and can become part of the movement's name. It is often found over movements with major harmony, clear phrase articulation, and plain accompaniment.
Musical use
The designation is used in songs, in dance movements, and in instrumental pieces of a friendly character. In teaching and playing literature it is widespread because it makes the desired tone directly understandable to learners. In larger works it stands over movements that form a counterbalance to more serious parts.
The instruction calls for a cheerful, light performance without heaviness, with bright tone and flexible articulation. It stands in German scores since the Romantic period, for instance in Schumann and Mahler, and corresponds to Italian allegro in its original literal sense, for allegro actually means cheerful. Cheerfulness does not mean superficiality: in many works it is a composed, inner joy that becomes audible through fine gradations and light pauses. Accents that are too thick and heavy sound contradict the character. Beethoven headed the first movement of his Pastoral Symphony with the phrase “Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the country.”
Performance practice
Keep the articulation light and the accompaniment slim; cheerfulness arises from lightness, not from tempo or volume. Show the phrase articulation without emphasizing it. Avoid large dynamic arcs and heavy accents. And let the phrases end in a friendly way instead of letting them run out.