Ritmo di tre battute

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff — in an orchestral score, over every part — at the bar where the grouping changes, and in force until a new instruction such as Ritmo di quattro battute. It changes neither tempo nor time signature: each bar becomes one beat of a three-beat larger unit, so the reader counts bars in threes.

Also spelled: ritmo di 3 battute

How Composers Use It

Use it when bars go by so fast that players feel each one as a single beat, and your phrases group them in threes rather than the expected fours. The marking is a courtesy to performers, telling them to feel a larger metre; without it the irregularity still exists but is harder to project. Mark the return to regular grouping just as explicitly.

Example

Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, second movement, flute part: “Ritmo di tre battute”, later cancelled by “Ritmo di quattro battute”.

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