Allegro agitato

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as a heading, at the start of a piece or of a new, more turbulent section, and in force until the next tempo word. In songs it heads voice and piano together; a later “agitato” on its own simply renews the character inside the same tempo.

How Composers Use It

Agitato asks for restlessness — pressure, urgency, a sense that the music cannot settle — which a fast tempo alone does not supply. It sits naturally on minor-key music with syncopation, tremolo or driving accompaniment figures, and Romantic song composers used it for storms of weather and of feeling alike. Pair it with dynamics that surge rather than stay level. If you want speed with brilliance rather than anxiety, Allegro con brio or con fuoco says that better.

Example

Balakirev, Islamey: An Oriental Fantasy, m. 1: “Allegro agitato” heads the piece at f, dropping to p two bars later.

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