Reprenez le mouvement

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff at the bar where the earlier tempo resumes, after a plus lent, cédez or rit.; the infinitive reprendre le mouvement and Reprenez comme au commencement are variants. It cancels the deviation and holds until the next tempo word.

Also spelled: reprendre le mouvement, reprenez

How Composers Use It

Literally “take up the tempo again”: an a tempo that also suggests picking up the thread of the music. It returns to the tempo in force before the change, so it works best after a short, clearly marked deviation. Debussy’s peu à peu, reprendre le mouvt (Pour le piano) shows the gradual form — the tempo recovered over several bars rather than at once.

Example

Ravel, Pavane pour une infante défunte, piano, m. 28: “Reprenez le mouvement”, two bars after “un peu plus lent”; it is printed again at m. 67, after a “Cédez”.

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