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Slow. The standard German equivalent of Lento or Adagio.
Printed above the staff as a heading — Langsam, Sehr langsam, Ziemlich langsam, Langsam und schwermütig — often with a metronome mark. Mid-movement its comparatives (langsamer, etwas langsamer, noch langsamer) slow relative to the current tempo until Tempo I, Erstes Zeitmaß or a new word. Some editions print an Italian equivalent beside it.
German composers from Beethoven onward sometimes preferred German tempo markings over Italian. Langsam appears frequently in Mahler, Bruckner, and Schoenberg. It carries a slightly different aesthetic weight — more introspective than the Italian equivalent.
Strauss, “Morgen!”, Op. 27 No. 4, voice, m. 1: “Langsam” beside “sehr getragen” — the speed and the manner given as separate words.
Langsam is one of 1760 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.
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