Bedeutend langsamer

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff at the bar where the slower tempo starts, capitalised as a section heading. It holds until the next tempo word — often Tempo I or a return to the main tempo — and may come with a reference tempo or metronome mark.

How Composers Use It

A large, sudden drop — meno mosso with conviction, not a ritardando. It lets a contrasting episode arrive inside a movement without a new title: Bruckner prints it early in the Scherzo of his Fifth Symphony, a movement headed Molto vivace (Schnell). Prepare it with a cadence or a breath and, if the proportion matters, give a metronome mark or tie it to a tempo heard earlier.

Example

Bruckner, Symphony No. 5, third movement (Scherzo), m. 23: “Bedeutend langsamer”, in a movement headed “Molto vivace (Schnell)”.

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