Non Troppo
Sets a ceiling on a mark, meaning not too much
Related
Non troppo puts a ceiling on the mark before it: allegro non troppo is "fast, but not too fast"; adagio non troppo is "slow, but not too slow". It keeps the character of the original term and removes only the extreme.
The qualifier became especially common after the nineteenth century; Brahms used it to stop players from turning tempo into a display. Non troppo is not a synonym for slow, nor a licence to discount the mark; allegro non troppo is still an allegro, merely one that refuses exaggeration. It faces molto across the scale: one adds, one limits, and context sets the measure.
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.