Adagietto
A little faster than adagio, still unhurried and intimate
Related
Adagietto is the diminutive of adagio, literally "a small adagio". It is usually a little faster than an adagio while remaining slow, and its character is more intimate than solemn. Mahler's Fifth Symphony made the title famous by pushing that intimacy to an extreme.
It does not mean "much faster than adagio". The suffix -etto scales down the weight, not the metronome; some composers use the word for a short adagio-like piece, others for a tender mood. Read its place in the movement before deciding whether it should flow or stay hushed.
Sources
- 术语的释义与用法，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians（Oxford Music Online）相关条目；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.