Lento con molto espressione

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the first system as a heading, sometimes with a closing full stop in older prints, and in force until the next tempo word. In orchestral music it heads every part, so the call for much expression applies to accompaniment as well as melody.

How Composers Use It

Slow, with intense expressive involvement: rubato, warm tone, shaped dynamics. Amy Beach used it for her Browning song “Ah, Love, but a Day!” as well as in her Gaelic Symphony. It is a long heading, and that has a cost: the more the words carry, the less the notation needs to; consider whether Lento espressivo or a plain Lento with expressive marks in the parts would say the same thing more cleanly.

Example

Beach, Symphony in E minor (“Gaelic”), Op. 32, third movement, flute 1, m. 1: “Lento con molto espressione.”, opening at f.

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