Lento

What it means

Lento simply means “slow” and is the most matter-of-fact among the slow tempo words. While largo also implies breadth, adagio leisureliness, and grave heaviness, lento names only the speed. As a guideline, about 45 to 60 beats per minute are often given; the figures differ considerably from edition to edition.

Precisely because the word prescribes no character, it appears especially often with additions: lento e cantabile, lento espressivo, lento ma non troppo. These additions then carry the actual statement about expression. Lentissimo is the superlative form. In relation to adagio, lento is usually ranked as equally slow or somewhat slower, but the order of the slow tempo words is not fixed uniformly.

In the notation

The marking stands above the first staff of a movement or section and can become the movement's name. It also appears in the middle of a piece, when a section passes into a slow tempo. Metronome numbers next to it often come from the editor and are to be understood as a guideline.

Musical use

Lento heads slow movements and sections of every kind. It is especially widespread in the music of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, where it often takes the place of the older adagio. It also often stands in character pieces, in piano literature, and in arrangements of folk songs, because it manages without stylistic commitment. In multi-part movements it often marks the calm counterpart to a fast section.

Lento is often understood as somewhat slower than adagio.

Performance practice

Count in subdivisions, so that the pulse between the beats is not lost, taking your bearings from the smallest note values of the movement. Plan breath and bow distribution before you begin. Read any addition carefully — with lento it says more about the performance than the tempo word itself. And keep the accompaniment even and quiet: at slow tempos every irregularity becomes audible, because the listener has time to listen closely.