Lively

One word, several tempo levels

On Maikstrings “lively” appears in several places and does not always mean the same level. The page Tempo explains Vivace as “lively”. On the page Rhythm Allegro is given as “fast, lively”, on the page Tools as “lively, fast” with 120 to 156 beats per minute. The page Scales describes Allegro as “fast, bright and lively” and calls it the most common rock tempo.

That shows what is typical of words like “lively”: they describe a character, not a fixed number. The page on tempo records that such indications are elastic and leave room to the performer. If a metronome number is printed beside the word in the score, the number takes precedence.

Lively in Schubert

In the sheet music archive the German word appears in three Schubert songs. All three carry an addition that grades the strength: “ziemlich lebhaft” (fairly lively) and “etwas lebhaft” (somewhat lively). The score also shows that “lively” says nothing about the metre. The three songs are in three different time signatures:

Voice and piano

• Der Musensohn Franz Schubert, D. 764 · voice and piano, with chords for guitar · 4 pages

  “Ziemlich lebhaft.” (fairly lively) is printed in bold above the first system, the time signature is 6/8. The piano begins with p and a crescendo, in the second bar fp follows.

• Die Forelle Franz Schubert · voice and piano, with chords for guitar · 5 pages

  “Etwas lebhaft.” (somewhat lively) is placed at the left under the name of the poet, above the system. The time signature is 2/4, the key signature has five flats. The piano begins with p and a run in sextuplets.

• Suleika 1 Franz Schubert · voice and piano, with chords for guitar · 15 pages

  “Etwas lebhaft.” is printed in bold above the first system, the time signature is 3/4. Below it, in the piano part, is the instruction “Mit Verschiebung.” (with the shift).

In “Der Musensohn” it is 6/8, in “Die Forelle” 2/4 and in “Suleika” 3/4. In 6/8, according to the page Rhythm, you usually count two groups of three eighth notes, whereas 3/4 has three quarter notes. Lively is therefore not tied to a time signature.

Common mistakes

• Equating “lively” with “fast”: It describes agility and verve, not only the speed.
• Overlooking the additions: “Etwas lebhaft” softens the marking, and “ziemlich lebhaft” shifts it as well; no metronome number says exactly how.
• Expecting a fixed bpm number: The German marking is less exact than a metronome number. That also holds for the Italian words.