Grave

What it means

Grave means “heavy, weighty, serious” and designates a very slow tempo that at the same time demands a particular character. Unlike Largo, Lento, and Adagio, which mainly name slowness, with Grave heaviness is in the foreground: the music should sound solemn and weighty, every note carrying significance.

In the series of slow tempo words, Grave counts as one of the slowest. There are no reliable numbers, and the gradation to Largo is handled differently. The distinction is therefore better made through expression: Largo is broad and wide, Adagio calm and singing, Lento simply slow, Grave serious and weighed down.

The word can also join another tempo word as a character addition and lend it weight.

In the notation

The marking stands above the first staff of a movement or section and often becomes the movement's name. Typical neighbours are dotted rhythms and full-grip chords, which make the heavy character visible in the notation. Metronome numbers beside it usually come from the editor and are to be read as a guide value.

Musical use

Grave heads above all slow introductions to fast movements, as they are widespread in overtures and sonatas of the Baroque and the Viennese Classical period. There the movement stands for solemnity and prepares the contrast to the following quick part. The marking is likewise found in funeral music and in sections that strike a serious, plaintive tone. Characteristic is the combination with sharply dotted figures that give the stride weight.

Performance practice

Count in small subdivisions so that the long values keep their full duration and the dotted rhythms come exactly. Play dotted rhythms decisively — taken too softly they lose the sharpness that makes up the character. Give each note weight in the attack without becoming hard, and let chords ring out fully. And keep the tempo stable: with very slow movements, heaviness arises from the even pulse, not from additional delaying.