Poco a poco ritardando

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as poco a poco rit. or ritard., or in full, often with dashes over the bars it spans; it runs until a tempo, a new tempo word or a fermata. Here rit. is read as ritardando, since a gradual ritenuto makes no sense.

Abbreviations: poco a poco rit., poco a poco ritard.

How Composers Use It

A slowing spread over several bars, so gradual that the listener hardly notices it starting. It is the right marking for long approaches to a cadence or to a quiet new section, where an ordinary rit. would arrive too abruptly. Make the span explicit with dashes, and give the arrival a tempo word (a tempo, Tranquillo, Tempo I) so the performer knows when to stop slowing.

Example

Balakirev, Islamey, m. 88: “poco a poco ritardando”, printed with “Tranquillo” after the music has fallen from ff to p.

Related Terms