Crescendo e ritardando

As Printed on a Score

Printed below the staff as cresc. e rit., often with dashes over its span. The slowing ends at a tempo or a new tempo word, the crescendo at the next dynamic; the two may be cancelled at different points.

Abbreviations: cresc. e rit.

How Composers Use It

Growing louder while slowing is the gesture of broadening into an arrival — close in effect to allargando, which many composers prefer for it. Write the explicit pair when you want both processes clearly separate in the performer’s mind, or when the growth should begin before the slowing. Mark the arrival in both dimensions: a dynamic and a tempo.

Example

Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, “Herbstlied”, Op. 63 No. 4, first soprano, m. 74: “cresc. e rit.”, three bars after the piano’s “cresc. sempre”.

Related Terms