Ritenuto

A ritenuto holds the music back. The difference from the ritardando lies in the way the tempo falls: with the ritardando it gets slower gradually, with the ritenuto you throttle it at once to the new, slower pace. This stays until “a tempo” or a new tempo marking cancels it.

One word, two meanings

The abbreviation “rit.” is imprecise. It can stand for “ritardando” and for “ritenuto”, and in older and newer editions both meanings are found. “Riten.” too is not unambiguous in all editions. When sight-reading, you decide from the context. As a rule of thumb: if the marking is written over a closing formula, you usually get gradually slower. If it is written over a single place with a following “a tempo”, holding back may be meant as well.

In the notation

The sheet music archive contains many pieces with “rit.”. In the choral setting below the abbreviation appears in the middle of the piece and is cancelled by “a tempo” after a fermata. A rallentando or ritardando would look just the same here. If an edition takes the difference seriously, it writes the word out.

• Gladsome Light SATB choral setting with guitar chords · 2 pages

  On page 1, in bar 12, “rit.” is written above the staff, and after the fermata in bar 14 “a tempo” follows. Only the abbreviation is printed; whether it is meant as a ritenuto or a ritardando, the sheet does not say. That shows the ambiguity the page is about.