Andante come prima

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff where an earlier Andante returns after other tempos; to know the speed, the reader looks back to the last Andante heading. It lasts until the next tempo word.

How Composers Use It

A return marking that ties a later passage to an earlier one by tempo as well as by material — useful in sonata movements where a slow theme or its tempo comes back after faster music. Because ‘as before’ depends on the players’ memory of the first Andante, give both passages the same metronome mark if exact agreement matters.

Example

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”), first movement, full score, m. 305: “Andante come prima” — the Andante that first arrived with the second theme comes back after the long stretch of faster music that began with the development’s “Allegro vivo”.

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