Moving along

What it means

Hingehend (“going along”) is one of the German tempo words that have been used since the eighteenth century as a substitute for or supplement to the Italian designations. What is meant is a striding, moderate tempo — the music goes its way without hurrying and without lingering. In substance it corresponds to the Italian Andante, without a fixed equation being usual.

Related is fortgehend, which likewise demands motion but stresses the flowing on; hingehend puts the accent rather on the calm striding. As with all German performance markings, the meaning is not strictly fixed: they are character words that the composer sets to explain his intention, and their content follows from the context of the respective edition.

In the notation

The word stands above the first staff of a movement or section, in German-language editions in place of an Italian tempo word, occasionally also beside it. If a series of German markings is found in the same edition, it can be read off from their relation to one another where hingehend is to be placed.

Musical use

The marking is used in movements with an even basic motion: in song-like pieces, in striding middle movements, in chorale settings, and in playing literature that calls for a calm, reliable tempo. It seldom stands where music is to press or linger and thus marks rather the normal case than the exception.

The instruction resembles andante and calls for a striding, calmly continuing performance. The tempo is moderate, the character composed, the pulse even as in calm walking.

Performance practice

Test the tempo against the picture of striding: it should be possible to walk calmly to it without dragging. Keep the pulse even and shape within the phrase instead of yielding at phrase ends. Take care that every step gets the same weight — the most common deviation is an unnoticed speeding up with smaller note values. And take the performance rather plain: such markings usually mean an unaffected, natural motion.