Valse lente

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the first staff as a heading that gives genre and tempo at once; it is sometimes also the title. It governs the whole piece or section until a new tempo heading.

How Composers Use It

It asks for a slow waltz: three beats in a bar with a gentle lilt and a leaning first beat, slower and more languid than a ballroom waltz. It was a favourite of French salon and café-concert music around 1900, and Satie heads a song with it. Give a metronome mark if the exact speed matters; valse lente implies a range, not a number.

Example

Satie, Tendrement, voice, m. 1: “Valse lente”, the song’s heading.

Related Terms