On 31 May 2008 at 17:08, Andrew Stiller wrote:
> We are all
> taught nowadays that "moderato" means "moderately," but it doesn't: it
> means "moderated"--i.e."held back," and till well into the 19th c. was
> considered a slower tempo than andante ("walking").
Andante is an interesting term, because of the changing meaning of
"andantino," which is a diminutive andante. Whether andantino is
faster of slower than andante depends on whether you classify andante
itself as a fast or a slow tempo. If andante is fast, an andantino
would be slower, but if it's slow, and andantino would be faster than
an andante.
In the 18th century, andante was mostly considered a fast tempo, and
thus, andantino was slower (some theorists in the late 18th century
disagreed, though). But this gradually changed in the 19th century
such that andante was considered slow, and an andantino faster than
the andante.
(can you tell that I once wrote a seminar paper on this subject?)
--
David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com
David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/
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