The Short

350 TEMPO TERMS
‘andante con moto’ respectively for the closely analogous slow movements of the Second and Fifth symphonies, both
of which are in 3/8 with demisemiquavers as their fastest notes, but he later gave them the same metronome mark(? =
92). To some extent the difference in the terms is explained by the fact that when performed at the same speed as the
Larghetto of the Second Symphony, the Andante con moto of the Fifth Symphony may seem faster, because of its
slightly greater number of demisemiquavers; but the metronome marks may also indicate that by the time Beethoven
fixed them, more than a decade later, he conceived the tempo of the Larghetto of the earlier symphony as being faster
than he had originally done. This is perhaps supported by the change to the tempo term ‘Larghetto quasi andante’ in
his piano trio arrangement of the Second Symphony; however, this designation, too, confirms the position of
‘larghetto’ as indicating a tempo only just slower than ‘andante’.
In Weber's Euryanthe, sections marked ‘larghetto’ generally contain rather more active music than those marked ‘largo’
and ‘adagio’, thus making the music seem subjectively faster. However, the metronome marks are within the same
range as those for the term ‘largo’. But direct comparison is impossible since all the largos are in ?, while all but one of
the larghettos (also the metronomized Larghetto ma non troppo from the Konzertstück J. 282) are in 3/4; the other
larghetto is in 6/8. In Spohr's music ‘poco adagio’ and ‘larghetto’ share the same metronome mark range; but as in
Weber's case, movements marked ‘larghetto’, the bulk of which (twenty-three out of thirty-one) are in triple or
compound metre, tend to have a more flowing character. Spontini similarly favoured the combination of 3/4 and
‘larghetto’ in Fernand Cortez, Olympie, and Nurmahal. With a tempo range of ? = 50–4, Spontini's 3/4 larghettos in these
operas have a distinctly slower pulse than his 3/4 andantes.
Berlioz, too, used ‘larghetto’ most often in triple or compound metres. Of fourteen larghettos in his works only three
are in ?, and they have a tempo range that makes them, in general, a little faster than his adagios, but by their
metronome range and note values alone they are scarcely distinguishable from his andantes. Indeed, many of the
andantes are slower than the faster larghettos. All the 3/4 larghettos have a crotchet pulse within a range from 48 for
Larghetto un poco lento and 54 for Larghetto sostenuto to 76 for Larghetto espressivo; the simple Larghettos are in
the range ? = 56–72. His 3/4 adagios are in the range ? = 44–58 while his 3/4 andantes, with and without qualifying
terms, are in the range ? = 50–69.
DvoŘák rarely used ‘larghetto’, but when he did in the Stabat mater op. 58 and the Symphonic Variations op. 78, he
used it for movements with the unusual time signature 4/8, which he also employed with ‘largo’, ‘adagio’, and
‘andante’. The two above-mentioned larghettos are not only faster than the largos and adagios, but, with the
metronome marks ? = 104 and ? = 66 respectively, they are also faster than the only 4/8 andante (? = 92) from Legendy
op.