Tempo
How fast the music goes — and the words a score uses to mark it
Related
Tempo is how fast the music moves. It is first of all a relationship, not an absolute scale: the same "fast" can differ widely between performing traditions. Before the seventeenth century, speed was mostly implied by metre, dance type and convention; only after the metronome did composers begin to write precise BPM figures.
A tempo mark on the page is a direction, not a law — Allegro is not "120 beats per minute" but a character range. What actually decides the speed is the music's tone, phrasing and room. The same mark by the same composer can point to different numbers in different pieces.
Read deeper → Tempo
Sources
- 速度术语的相对性与节拍器历史，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Tempo and tempo marks"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.