Allegro
Fast and lively
The Italian word "Allegro" means "fast", brisk", and "cheerful", and is usually played at a tempo of 120 to 156 beats per minute.
In music history, the word "Allegro" appeared in a music treatise that published in Venice in 1535. The musician, Silvestro Ganassi Dal Fontego, used the word to describe a vibrato with a cheerful feeling as a playing style.
Example of Allegro
Common Tempo Marking
| Tempo Marking | bpm | Meaning |
| Grave | 20 - 40 bpm | Slow and solemn |
| Lento | 40 - 60 bpm | Slow |
| Largo | 40 - 60 bpm | Slow and broad |
| Larghetto | 60 - 66 bpm | Rather broadly |
| Adagio | 66 - 76 bpm | Slow and stately |
| Adagietto | 70 - 80 bpm | Slightly faster than adagio |
| Andante | 72 - 76 bpm | Walking pace |
| Andante moderato | 92 - 98 bpm | Moderate walking pace |
| Moderato | 108 - 120 bpm | At a moderate tempo |
| Allegretto | 112 - 120 bpm | Moderately fast |
| Allegro moderato | 116 - 120 bpm | Moderately quick |
| Allegro | 120 - 156 bpm | Fast and lively |
| Vivace | 156 - 176 bpm | Fast and lively |
| Allegro vivace | 172 - 176 bpm | Very fast and lively |
| Presto | 168 - 200 bpm | Quickly |
| Prestissimo | 200+ bpm | As fast as possible |
Writer: Frankie Chan
Term Information
Type of Musical Term
Related Musical Terms
Dictionary
Other Musical Terms
Tutor's Video (Jan Au)
Articles
The Greatest Violinist: Jascha Heifetz
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer, the predominant musical figure during the transition between the Classical to Romantic eras. He occupies an unprecedented dominance in the history of Western music history, and has been widely regarded as the greatest, most influential and most popular musician who ever lived.
Beethoven's music inherited the artistic atmosphere of Haydn and Mozart, penetrated the desire for dignity, vented the anger tortured by fate, and demonstrated his determination to fight with fate.
Compared to other musicians, Beethoven is effectively to interact the philosophy of life with audience through music. Although he was not a romantic, he had become the object followed by other romantics.
As a musician, Beethoven suffered from ear diseases. However, he was unwilling to succumb to fate, vowing to take fate by the throat, and continue to complete his career. In the last ten years of his life, without hearing any sound, his compositions influenced the development of music for nearly two hundred years.
