Poco ritenuto

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as poco riten. (or, ambiguously, poco rit.) at the note or bar to be held back; it takes effect at once and lasts until a tempo or a new tempo word, often only a bar or two later.

Abbreviations: poco riten., poco rit.

How Composers Use It

A slight, immediate holding back: the tempo steps down at once rather than easing gradually as with poco ritardando. Chopin uses poco riten. on the edge of a section, as a brief intake of breath before something new arrives. Write riten. rather than rit. so the performer knows you mean the immediate kind, and place the a tempo exactly.

Example

Chopin, Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58, second movement (Scherzo), m. 31: “poco riten.”, with “a tempo” two bars later.

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