Un peu moins lent

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff where a slow tempo lifts slightly, usually after a cédez or a passage marked Lent. It lasts until the next tempo word. Read it as a slightly quicker tempo that remains slow.

How Composers Use It

A characteristically French nuance: the music gets a little faster without losing its slow character, which plus vite would not convey. Lili Boulanger uses it in slow songs to give a phrase more forward motion while staying within the mood. Because the change is so slight, keep the surrounding tempo words simple so that it registers.

Example

Lili Boulanger, Attente, piano, m. 18: “Un peu moins lent”, the bar after “Cédez”, in a song headed “Assez lent”.

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