Plus lent

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff at the bar where the new, slower tempo begins — often with no ritardando before it, as a sudden change — and in force until the next tempo word (au Mouvt, 1er Mouvt, Tempo I). Graded forms: un peu plus lent, beaucoup plus lent, encore plus lent.

How Composers Use It

The French più lento: a relative instruction that only means something against the tempo before it, so establish that tempo firmly. Plus lent gives an immediate change; for a gradual one write cédez, en retenant or ralentir. Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso prints it again and again for its slower episodes. Always mark the way back, or the performer cannot tell where the slower tempo ends.

Example

Ravel, Miroirs No. 4, “Alborada del gracioso”, piano, m. 71: “Plus lent”, straight after an ff and dropping to p in the next bar — the first of several slower episodes in a piece headed “Assez vif.”

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