Pace in music is an amazing concept, as is this art form itself. Let's talk in this article about one of its many components - the pace "andante". We will analyze both himself and the works in which he is traced, varieties, the history of the pace in music.
What is andante in music: definition
Andante (from Italian. Andante) is the speed with which one or another piece of music is played, performed, in this case, equal to 76-108 beats of the metronome. Andante is a designation that sits between adagio and moderato in a gradation of musical tempo.
They also call a specific melody, part of a symphony, sonata or other musical creation that does not have its own name, which is played at this pace. Sometimes this is a musical whole theme with variations.
Origin
The word andante (ital. Andante - "current", "going") comes from ital. the verb andare, which means "to go." The reason for this is that before the invention of the metronome (a device that marks short time intervals with strokes) andante was equal to the pace of a normal walk, equal to the rhythm of 69-84 beats. This allowed him to be attributed to a moderately slow pace. Andante's speed was close to adagio.
Then, over the centuries, the use of this pace changed until it became what we can see today.
An example of music in pace andante
Andante is one of the most common, along with allegro, tempos in music. These are medium in speed, lyrical in character works - components of sonatas, quartets, whole symphonic cycles. For example:
- "The Singing Andante" ("Andante Cantabile") is the slow part of the quartet composed by the great Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The work was put on the Russian folk song "Vanya sat."
- Symphony No. 1 of Mozart.
- "Andante Favori" ("Andante's Beloved") by Beethoven. The history of this work is interesting: it was written as a slow part of the world famous Sonata "Appassionata". As soon as the work on the whole composition was completed, the composer noted that the Beloved Andante turned out to be too significant and weighty, which is why its inclusion in the cycle would “aggravate” the already deep in content and long sonata. Therefore, Beethoven replaced “Andante Favori” (sometimes by the tonality in which the work is performed, it is called “Andante in F Major”) with a less voluminous part. "Beloved Andante" has become a separate work.
A considerable number of authors call their non-programmatic plays simply “Andante”. This name is given by the pace of the created work.
We now turn to the concept of "pace."
What is the tempo in music?
A deeper understanding that this is andante in music will help us a little acquaintance with the pace in music in general. The word comes from lat. tempus - "time". It means a measure of time in music.
From the classic romantic historical era (XVIII-XIX centuries), the tempo is always associated musically with a meter - a measure that determines the amount of rhythmic structures. Hence, the tempo is often considered in music as the speed of movement, which is determined by the number of metric fractions per unit time.
We make a reservation that not all music can be easily viewed on the part of tempo and metric as a union. An exception would be such works in menstrual and modal notation: the Monteverdi madrigals, the Perotin organisms, the Gregorian sequence Dies irae, Dufaya masses, etc.
We also note that although it is possible to observe the speed of music using the same metronome, the pace is far from always maintained at live concerts. Depending on his individual feeling of the work, the performer can speed up or slow down the speed of playing the instrument or his voice, playing deliberately unevenly. But if the composition, for example, is electronic-mechanical, then the number of shares in a certain time period is set uniquely.
Key pace
We have examined in detail the pace in andante music. Consider the most common others:
- Fast:
- vivo;
- allegro;
- animato;
- presto.
- Medium:
- Slow:
- tape;
- grave;
- largo (largo);
- adagio.
Not all musical works are performed at the same pace. Some, for example, a waltz, a march can be characterized by execution in compliance with different speeds.
Varieties of andante
The word itself means moderate performance, consonant with an unhurried, calm step, walking. In addition, they also distinguish:
- Andante assai (56-66 metronome beats) - a rhythm of a very calm walk.
- Andante maestoso (60-69 metronome beats) - compared with a solemn step.
- Andante mosso (63-76 metronome beats) - performance at this pace can easily be compared with a lively step of a person.
- Andante non troppo (66-88 metronome beats) - music guides report that characterizing a given tempo is not a quick step.
- Andante con moto (69-84 metronome beats) - a game or voice performance at this pace is compared to an unhurried, laid-back walk.
In conclusion, the theme of andant, as a musical term, we invite you to get acquainted with the emergence of such a concept and magnitude as the tempo in music.
The history of the musical tempo
The first indications of composers on the pace of performance of their work are found already in the 16th century in the works of viuelists (viuela is a plucked string musical instrument that belongs to the viola family) by Luis de Narvaez and Luis de Milan.
And starting from the next century, composers prefer to consistently supply the music they create with some cliched instructions warning the artist about the pace of the game. In the beginning there were not so many of them: “lingering,” “cheerful rhythm,” “moderate play,” and so on. It would be even more correct to call it an indication of the character (ethos) of a musical work, rather than a prescription for a certain speed of a game or performance.
Later, composers also did not forget to leave such instructions in their compositions: metronomical notes in Beethoven’s later works, a large number of refinements in the manuscripts regarding the tempo made by Stravinsky. Thus, since the XVIII century it has already become a tradition for music creators to indicate in their works to the performer that the game corresponds to the designated tempo.
However, from that time to this day, the question of proper pace has been a favorite topic of contention among listeners, critics and the performers themselves. It is often the case that the composer makes no recommendations regarding the tempo. Sometimes the fact that there are tempo instructions, but they are deliberately not accurate, abstracts the ethos, the nature of the game, and not specifically speed. A striking example is the music of Bach and other works of the Baroque era.
Thus, we have established that andante is the pace of music, which means a medium-speed play or performance that can be compared with a person walking calmly. The history of the musical tempo itself has been going on for more than a century, but despite this, there are still disputes around some issues related to the speed of execution.