Inquieto

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as a character word, usually at the head of a movement or section and often extended into a fuller description (“Inquieto, con espressione dolorosa”). It governs the mood until the next character or tempo word. Some German editions print the Italian beside the composer’s own German direction, as in Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder.

How Composers Use It

Inquieto describes restlessness of mood rather than speed: uneven, searching phrasing and a reluctance to settle. It is more inward than agitato, which suggests outward physical agitation, and it does not by itself ask for a faster tempo, so combine it with a tempo word to fix the pace. It suits music whose harmony or rhythm already avoids rest; on settled material it gives players little to act on.

Example

Mahler, Kindertotenlieder, “In diesem Wetter, in diesem Braus”, voice, m. 1: “Inquieto, con espressione dolorosa” heads the last song of the cycle, beside Mahler’s German direction.

Related Terms