Più lento

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff where the slower tempo starts, often at the opening of a trio or middle section; it lasts until a tempo, Tempo I or a new tempo word. Qualifiers set the degree: poco più lento, molto più lento.

Also spelled: piu lento

How Composers Use It

A direct instruction to slow down by a step, more emphatic than meno mosso because it names slowness rather than reduced motion. Chopin uses it to mark off the trios and middle sections of fast pieces, where the change of speed is part of the form. Since it is relative, its result depends on the tempo before it; when that is very fast, a metronome mark helps the performer judge how far to go.

Example

Chopin, Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35, second movement (Scherzo), m. 81: “Più lento”, at p, the start of the movement’s contrasting middle section.

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