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At liberty — the performer may vary the tempo, add ornamentation, or omit the passage entirely. Abbreviated ad lib.
Printed as “ad lib.” or “ad libitum” over a passage, a fermata or a cadenza, or beside a part name (“Violoncello ad lib.”). Over a passage it frees tempo or ornament until a tempo word or “a tempo” restores strict time; beside a part it marks the instrument as optional. Over a repeated bar it can mean repeat as often as you like.
Abbreviations: ad lib., ad lib, ad libit.
Ad libitum gives the performer freedom to interpret. In Baroque music, it may indicate a section open to improvisation. In orchestral parts, it may mark an optional instrument. Use it sparingly — too much ad lib. and the performance becomes unpredictable.
Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, finale, baritone solo, m. 235: “ad lib.” near the end of the recitative “O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!”, two bars before the “Allegro assai”.
Ad libitum is one of 1760 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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