Senza fretta

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff, often inside a tempo heading (Tranquillo con moto, senza fretta) or alone where a passage might be rushed; it lasts until a new tempo word.

How Composers Use It

Senza fretta is a warning, not a tempo: keep the established pace without hurrying. Use it where the writing invites rushing — rising lines, crescendos, running accompaniments — or within a heading to temper a moving tempo. The German equivalents, ohne zu eilen and nicht eilen, appear beside it in bilingual editions.

Example

Mahler, Kindertotenlieder, “Oft denk’ ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen”, voice, m. 46: “senza fretta” with “a tempo, nicht eilen” in the same bar.

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