So when I see this in a piece, my first reaction will probably be that I need to get significantly slower, and lengthen the notes in a dramatic way. In Spanish, 'alargar' (the verb), talks about making something longer. I speak Spanish, which sometimes gives me a helpful clue for Italian. Allargando, to me, has potentially a theatrical, dramatic (pompous) feel. Ritardando could be subtle or it could be not subtle. I tend to think of rallentando as not particularly subtle. However, I will give you my knee-jerk reaction to these terms when I come across them while sight-reading in an ensemble situation. Ultimately we have to try to get into his head and FEEL what he wanted.
I'll be visiting there this summer and I'll talk with some musicians and update this post.Įvery composer writes whatever the heck he wants. I think this is not common knowledge and most modern composers use the two terms synonymously, even in Italy. Emma, Azid, and Kilian's answers to this thread are the most enlightening. "Rallentare" has a secondary meaning of dying away, or losing inertia, whereas "ritardare" means to make late. Well, I spent at least two hours researching and my conclusion is that there is some validity to his claim. Instead I decided to do some research and find out if he knew of something that had previously eluded me. Riccardo Chailly at La Verdi di Milano), and that in my opinion they were synonyms. I kept myself back from telling him that he was wrong, that I'm fluent in Italian and lived 20 years in Italy, that I've sung with prominent conductors (e.g.
Yesterday a young American choral director said that the difference between ¨rallentando¨ and ¨ritardando¨ was that the first implies a diminishing of the volume as well as a slowing down of the tempo. So yes, it should vary slightly not just from era to era but also from composer to composer. Therefore, I come to the conclusion that composers may have used all three words differently but what the differences were, especially between rallentando and ritardando (discounting allargando as my book has given distinct directions on that), might be too subjective and individual specific to define properly and therefore, if one must be pedantic, it is best to leave it to experts who have studied the composer to give the final opinion. This implies that ritardando seems to be a deliberate slowing or being late, while rallentando seems to be more of a letting go or dying away.(although it becomes similar to smorzando and raising the same question all over again). Rallentare: “slow down, reduce speed, slacken, slow, die down, decelerate, check, put back.” Ritardare: “be late, wait, retard, lag, stay, lose, delay, set back, defer, put off.” From an Italian-English dictionary the author found: However, there is this blog where some worthwhile digging around has been done and the researcher indicates that there may be a subtle difference between the two words, as they are two different words of the Italian language. However, to my knowledge and access to information, I could not find any reliable citation anywhere that states that rallentando and ritardando may be interpreted differently. For example, ritenuto originally meant an abrupt change, although now it carries the same meaning as rallentando or ritardando. Without a doubt execution sometimes changes in some cases, since words can change meaning over time. And allargando means broadening, implying getting a little slower and probably also a little louder. Ritardando and rallentando both mean gradually getting slower and according to my AB guide to music theory book they are both supposed to imply a gradual slowing down.