Presto ma non assai

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as a heading, at a movement’s start or a new section, and in force until the next tempo word. Brahms sets it over both fast episodes of his Second Symphony’s third movement, the first time with a bracketed equation of note values linking it to the surrounding Allegretto.

How Composers Use It

Ma non assai — but not very — caps the speed while keeping presto’s lightness and drive. Use it when the texture or articulation would blur at a true presto, or when the fast music must stay related to a slower tempo around it. It sits close to Presto ma non troppo; choose one wording and keep to it, and add a metronome mark or note-value equation if the relationship matters.

Example

Brahms, Symphony No. 2, Op. 73, third movement, flute 1, m. 33: “Presto ma non assai” breaks into the movement headed “Allegretto grazioso (Quasi Andantino)”; the same heading returns at m. 126.

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