Meno mosso

Leaving the tempo and finding it again

According to the building block Tempo, music seldom stays strictly the same speed. Gradually speeding up is called accelerando, gradually slowing down ritardando. Meno mosso belongs to the same family but is not a process, it is a change: from this point on a calmer tempo applies until a new marking cancels it.

Two examples from the archive

Choir

• Great Doxology SATB choral setting with guitar chords · 18 pages

  The piece begins with “Moderato” in 3/4 time and two flats. On page 6, in the system from bar 69, there is “Meno mosso.” with pp, directly after a fermata on the end of the previous phrase. On page 7, after a double barline, “Tempo primo.” follows with mf and a change of key signature.

Voice and piano

• The Storm voice and piano · 2 pages

  In bar 27 “un poco meno mosso.” is written above the vocal line, so only a little less moved. Already in bar 14 (page 1) there is “a tempo 1mo.”, the return to the opening tempo, and a little later “slentando.”, another word for gradually slowing down.

“Great Doxology” shows the pair Meno mosso (p. 6) and Tempo primo (p. 7); in “The Storm” “a tempo 1mo.” stands in bar 14 and “un poco meno mosso.” only in bar 27, with no return afterwards. “Tempo primo” names the opening tempo explicitly, “a tempo” generally means “in the previous tempo”.

How much less?

The marking gives no number. The addition “un poco” (a little) in The Storm softens it. According to the building block Tempo, tempo is also a feeling that arises from the interplay of the other building blocks: a crescendo or a driving rhythm can create the impression of speeding up without the pulse changing. With meno mosso the reverse holds: calmer note values strengthen the impression of holding back.