Nach und nach

As Printed on a Score

Printed at the start of a gradual change — nach und nach schneller, nach und nach ruhiger und leiser — and sometimes spread word by word across several bars, so the direction unfolds with the music. The change continues until a new tempo or dynamic word arrives.

How Composers Use It

A homelier synonym of allmählich, frequent in Schumann’s songs and used by Brahms too: little by little. It carries the same obligation — mark the destination — and handles two processes at once well (ruhiger und leiser). Keep it for changes long enough to be gradual; across a single bar, a plain comparative is clearer.

Example

Schumann, Myrthen, Op. 25, No. 7, “Die Lotosblume”, voice and piano, m. 18: “nach und nach schneller”, in a song headed “Ziemlich langsam”.

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