Rapido

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as a heading or as a qualifier after another word; it lasts until the next tempo indication. It is uncommon on printed scores, where Presto, Veloce or Allegro molto normally do the job.

How Composers Use It

A plain, everyday Italian word for “quick”, without the long history of Allegro or Presto, so performers have no inherited sense of how fast it is. That makes a metronome mark almost essential. It can work as a character word over a passage that should feel hurried and light; for a movement heading, the standard tempo words communicate more precisely.

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