Lentamente

As Printed on a Score

Appears either as a heading above the staff or as a qualifier inside a longer direction, next to a character word. As a heading it lasts until the next tempo word; as a qualifier it lasts as long as the phrase it modifies.

How Composers Use It

The adverb says how to play — slowly — rather than naming a step on the tempo scale, so it reads naturally inside a longer direction or beside a character word. Lento is far more common as a heading, and performers know its place among the tempo words better. If you use lentamente as a heading, a metronome mark removes the guesswork about how slow you mean.

Related Terms