L800. } 
REMARKS ON THE TERMS AT PRESENT 
USED IN MUSIC, FOR REGULATING 
THE TIME. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
Y endeavour is to prove ihat thofe 
terms are indefinite, or at leaft mif- 
applied; and that it would be eafy to 
fubftitute definite chara&ters ; and that 
much trouble and difficulty would be re- 
moved by the propoled alteration. 
Dr. Nares, in the preface to his An- 
thems, remarks, that mufic performed in 
juft time, is like a painting fet in a good 
light, and is therefore anxious that the 
terms of time fhould be particularly re- 
garded. 
In Rouffeau’s Di&tionary of Mulic, time 
is divided into five principal terms, Jar-, 
£9, adagio, andante, allegro, ani prefto. 
‘There are allo other coilateral terms. In 
ancient mufic, grave, alla breve, tempo 
erdinario, and tempo ginfio. In modern 
mubc, /eate, andantino, and allegretto. 
And in both ancient and modern, larg hetto, 
wivace, prefiifimo. There are all Oo varlous 
modi fications of thele, by the addition of 
the words, molto, poco, con moto, mode- 
rato, non troppo, &c. ; and by combina- 
tions, as andante allegro,andante lar ghetto, 
&c. Thele terms are, perhaps, only in- 
telligible when contidered in fucceffion. 
Slow and quick, like great and fmall, exifl 
only by comparifon. It is, I believe ge- 
nerally underitcod, that the order of fuc- 
ceflion is as follows : 
Grave, largo, larghetto, adagio, lento, 
andante, andantino, allegretto, allegro, v1- 
wace, alla brewe, prefto, prefiifimo. Tam 
erfectly aware, ftcvcr, that this order 
will be difputed. By fome, adagio, lento, 
andante,andantino,alla breve, and vivace, 
are regarded, rather as terms of expret- 
fion and tafte, than of time. Adagio is 
by others confidered as denoting a flower 
On Terms for Time in Mufic. 
O41 
time than largo, alfo andantino than an- 
dante. And it is not furprifing, that 
compofers fhould be mifunderfiood, fiance 
we find they are themfelves inconiiftent. 
Handel has marked the bafs air in. the 
Mefiiah, ** But who may abide,” with the 
word larghetio; but he has marked the 
fame fong andante larghetto in the appen- 
dix. The rec itative < For behold, dark- 
nefs fhall cover the-earth,’’? is mark- 
ed andante larghetto, and the fucceed- 
ing air, larghetio. ‘Now larghstto is cer- 
tainly flower than anxdante Dar ghetto, yet 
the quavers in the air are always performs 
ed full as quick as the femiquavers j in the 
recitative. The air, ** Thou art gone 
up on high,” for a foprano voice, is marks 
ed andante 5 the fame fong, with the 
lightest vatiation, for a bafs voice, is 
marked allegro. In old, and efpecially 
church mulic, where the notes of the thort- 
eft value were quavers, and thofe out fel- 
dom uled, the minims were no longer than 
our crotchets. Pleyel, and fome others of 
the later compofers, .feem to have revived 
this Jong negleéted fpecies of notation, im 
the preffos, and other quick movements of 
their jxfonias. Indeed time frequently 
feems to depend on the number of notes 
contained in a bar. 
I am convinced, both from my own ob- 
fervations on the admirable and accurate 
performances of Handel’s works at Weft- 
minfter Abbey, and thofe of other great 
compofers of the fame period at the con= 
cert of ancient mujic, and alio from the af= 
furances of many elderly mufical gentlemen, 
that the time, at the beginning of this cen- 
tury, was performed much flower than in 
modern mufic. .[ am confirmed in my 
opinion, that the terms of time, now ufed, 
are indefinite, and of very little fervice, 
trom a feries of experiments which I have 
made with a pendulum ; of which the fol- 
lowing table is a felection, and will, I 
truft, be found tolerably accurate. 
Table of the Times of variaus Pieces, meafured by a Pendulum. 




| Notes which } Length ofthe 
pene rf | Nemes of the Piecesn Time, | One owing of 4 Pendulum. 
. the Pendul, TNeee 
| exprefics, Feet. .Inche 
1 Chorus, ** Since by man came death” ie, Quaver. | 2-10 
Firft movement e: the overture to the Mefliah C ditto oO 102 
Song ‘* Sommi “Dei,” in  Radamitt o, Handel. 2 dLELo ihe) a 
4th movement in the Paffione Stromentale. | é ditto roe xe) 
Largo. Haydn, 
Song, ‘* He was defpifed.”” - - Gitta Bee 
{ ditto 2 6 
Mostruty Mac, No. Lu. 
Cc 
Chorus, ** Worthy is the Lamb.” es Cc 
6 




