Molto lento

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as a heading or as a further broadening near the end of a slow passage, and in force until the next tempo word. Because “very slow” covers a wide range of speeds, a metronome mark beside it is especially helpful to the reader.

How Composers Use It

Very slow: the extreme of Lento, where the music almost stands still. It suits endings that dissolve, hushed meditations and passages where time seems suspended. At such a pace rhythmic detail blurs and players lose the beat, so write note values the ear can still follow and indicate the counting unit if it is subdivided. Molto adagio and lentissimo name neighbouring extremes.

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