Cadenza ad libitum

As Printed on a Score

Printed at a fermata, usually on a cadential six-four chord in a concerto, where the soloist improvises or chooses a cadenza; the orchestra waits and re-enters after the soloist’s closing trill or cadence. Ad libitum can also mean the cadenza may be left out.

How Composers Use It

Leaving the cadenza to the soloist was Classical practice; from Beethoven on, composers increasingly wrote their own. If you leave it open, end the preceding passage on a clear harmonic launching point and make the orchestra’s re-entry unmistakable. If you supply a cadenza but allow others, write yours out and mark it ad libitum.

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