Mesto

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff, usually as part of a tempo heading (Largo e mesto, Andante mesto, Adagio molto e mesto) at the start of a movement or section, where it fixes the character for the whole span. It is a mood word, not a tempo or a dynamic, and lasts until a new heading.

How Composers Use It

Mesto is the plain word for sadness: sorrowful and subdued, without the theatrical weeping of lacrimoso or the pain of doloroso. Beethoven chose it for two of his most searching slow movements, the Largo e mesto of the Piano Sonata Op. 10 No. 3 and the Adagio molto e mesto of the String Quartet Op. 59 No. 1. Use it where the sorrow is grave and contained, and pair it with a slow tempo word, which gives the pace it does not.

Example

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

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