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Fast. The standard German equivalent of Allegro or Vivace.
Printed above the staff as a heading (Schnell, Sehr schnell, Ziemlich schnell) or in parentheses after an Italian word, as in Bruckner’s Molto vivace (Schnell). Schneller and etwas schneller adjust the current tempo. Nicht schnell is a different instruction — not fast — and must not be read as a speed-up.
Used by German and Austrian composers, especially from the late Romantic period onward. Schnell implies straightforward speed without the specific character connotations of Allegro ("cheerful").
Bruckner, Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, third movement (Scherzo), flute 1, m. 1: “Molto vivace (Schnell)” — the German word in parentheses as a gloss on the Italian; the slower second theme arrives at “Bedeutend langsamer”.
Schnell is one of 1760 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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