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Moderately quick and graceful.
A heading printed above the first system of a movement or song, valid until the next tempo word. It is sometimes qualified in parentheses — Brahms writes Allegretto grazioso (Quasi Andantino) — when the composer wants to steer the speed more precisely than the Italian pair allows.
Grazioso asks for elegance: light accents, gently shaped phrases, rhythms that lilt rather than tick. With Allegretto it suits minuet-like and pastoral movements, intermezzi and many songs. Keep the accompaniment light and avoid heavy accents in the melody, or the notation will contradict the heading. For a gentler, less dance-like pace, Andantino grazioso or Andante grazioso shades it slower.
Brahms, Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73, third movement, m. 1: “Allegretto grazioso (Quasi Andantino)”, with “pizz.” among the opening directions.
Allegretto grazioso is one of 1755 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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