Allegro non troppo

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as a movement or section heading; it holds until the next tempo word. It often follows a slow introduction, standing at the bar where the main fast section begins.

How Composers Use It

Effectively the same as allegro ma non troppo, without the “but”: fast, not too fast. Brahms uses it for the first movements of his Second and Fourth Symphonies, where breadth and lyricism would suffer at a headlong allegro. Choose it when the material is dense or songful and needs time to unfold; a metronome mark makes the cap precise.

Example

Brahms, Symphony No. 4, first movement, m. 1: “Allegro non troppo”, with the woodwinds marked pp and dolce in the second bar.

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