Loading…
Loading…
At a walking pace, calmly.
Printed above the first system as a heading and in force until the next tempo word. German song composers sometimes print a vernacular paraphrase with it — Ruhig gehende Bewegung, “calmly walking motion” — which spells out how the two Italian words combine.
A walking pace without tension: steady, quiet in temperament, free of the pressing forward that con moto invites. It suits lullabies, carols, nocturnal or devotional songs, and accompaniments of even repeated chords. Keep dynamic peaks modest and avoid sudden accents, or the notation contradicts the heading. If you need the music to feel slower still, Adagio or Andante sostenuto is clearer than adding more calm words.
Cornelius, Weihnachtslieder, Op. 8, “Die Könige”, voice, m. 1: “Andante tranquillo”, paired with the German “Ruhig gehende Bewegung”.
Andante tranquillo 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.
Browse the full dictionary →