Largo e mesto

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the first system as a movement heading and in force until the next tempo word. Mesto is part of the heading, so its sorrowful character governs the whole movement rather than a single phrase.

How Composers Use It

Broad and sorrowful: Beethoven’s heading for the D-minor slow movement of his Sonata Op. 10 No. 3, among the darkest of his early slow movements. The pairing tells the player that slowness serves grief — dark tone, heavy harmony, phrases weighted with sighs — not repose. Use mesto when the sorrow is deep and inward; lamentoso and doloroso suggest a more open lament.

Example

Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10 No. 3, second movement, m. 1: “Largo e mesto”, at p.

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