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Slow, typically 45–60 BPM. Simply indicates slowness without the specific character implications of Grave or Largo.
Printed above the staff as a movement heading (Lento, Lento assai, Lento ma non troppo) or mid-movement to slow a section, often after a rallent. It lasts until a new tempo word or Tempo I. Its comparatives are printed as separate directions — più lento, molto più lento — each relative to the tempo just before.
Lento is the most neutral slow marking — it says "slow" without prescribing mood. Use it when you want slow tempo but the character should come from the music itself, not the tempo word.
Chopin, Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35, third movement, piano, m. 1: “Lento” heads the “Marche funèbre”, which begins p.
Lento 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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