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Slow. The standard German equivalent of Lento or Adagio.
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.
Mahler's Symphony No. 9, first movement — marked "Andante comodo" but with "Langsam" passages that drop into profound stillness.
Langsam is one of 228 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary, where every definition is written around how composers actually use the word.
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