Andantino

February 6, 2015 at 11:18 PM · It means that Andantino can mean slightly faster or slower. :)

Maybe somebody Italian can tell us of the correct way to use each term.

February 7, 2015 at 04:23 AM · I think andantino says more about the character of the piece than the tempo. Lighter, somehow. Just my perception.

February 7, 2015 at 06:52 AM · Andantino is a piece in Suzuki Violin School, book 1, that is played after Allegretto and before Etude.

Oh, wait....

February 7, 2015 at 08:38 AM · As in the word "piano", there is musician's Italian, and Italian's Italian...

February 7, 2015 at 11:29 AM · Even in Italian's Italian, doesn't Piano mean Quiet? In chess, the Giuoco Piano means the Quiet Game (as opposed to the King's Gambit). And the 4. d2d3 (as opposed to c2c3) variation is called the Pianissimo.

February 7, 2015 at 11:43 AM · In my dictionary, piano means slowly as well as softly.

If Andante means moving, Andantio means less moving i.e.slower; If Andante means "moderate, then Andantino means less moderate, so faster.

The dictionary gives "ordinary" or even "second-rate"!!

February 7, 2015 at 12:17 PM · A simple solution is to ignore what it means and play at a speed that is musically pleasing. LOL

February 7, 2015 at 01:01 PM · "Forte" means "strong", which isn't necessarily quite the same as "loud".

What irritates me a little in some orchestral scores is the instruction to play fff (or even ffff!), 

an instruction that is sometimes compounded by a conductor who is not a string player and 

apparently expects us to tear our instruments apart to achieve this dynamic.

In fact, in an orchestral situation, "fff" is the composer's instruction to the orchestra as a whole

to play as loudly as it can, and this dynamic is of course well provided by the good people

in the brass, woodwind and percussion sections. And the rest of us look busy ;)

February 7, 2015 at 01:52 PM · The '-ino' is a diminutive, so whether you go faster or slower depends on which way you read 'less' andante, slowER or less slow. Metaphoric or literal. And when the piece was written matters, and the nationality of the composer...I agree, just play the music musically....now, what does that mean?

February 7, 2015 at 09:50 PM · "Forte" means "strong", which isn't necessarily quite the same as "loud".

Yup. And allegro means "lively", not necesserily "fast".

I wonder what Italians think of all this..

February 8, 2015 at 04:51 PM · A related question which has intrigued me for some time. Does 'andante ma non troppo' mean faster or slower than Andante? Beethoven used it at least twice. In his quartet op131 (4th movement)the full direction is 'Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile'. Presumably he was trying to be helpful, or at least make the music slightly more 'performer-proof'. But listening to the divergent solutions offered on record I'm not sure he succeeded. For my money the more successful performances are the ones who treat it as 'not too slow'. Glorious music, whatever the tempo.

He did the same trick in Op130 (3rd movement) - 'Andante con moto ma non troppo' and 'poco scherzoso'. In this case I'm not so sure. The direction suggests 'not too fast'. In this instance my favorite performances are among the slower ones but still definitely 'not too slow'. As someone commented above it's the character of the music which matters - this movement needs to be light and playful whatever the tempo.

February 8, 2015 at 05:09 PM · Tempo indications are routinely ignored, especially by HIPers. Some of their Andantes are faster than my Allegros.

February 9, 2015 at 09:49 AM · One of my "tests" for great music is to play Presto movements Andante, and they still don't get boring.

February 9, 2015 at 11:22 AM · Adrian, I was told as a child that Andante meant Walking, which would correspond to your Moving. I would not have thought it meant Moderate, as Moderato is used for that, and, traditionally, is faster than Andante. Also, I would imagine that the Walking referred to in Andante was the liturgical kind, so slower than Moderato (I think marches tend to be headed Moderato). Which would suggest Andantino was somewhere between Andante and Moderato.

February 10, 2015 at 09:28 AM · Metronome is the cause of this issue.Indication of character has been assigned to Tempo but interpreted

literally lead to a misconception. For example we obviously cant' play Allegro, which mean Joy full,in a slow tempo but not necessarily 12O or 144