''Tempo giusto'' () is a musical term that literally means 'in exact time', often directing a return to strict time following a period of rubato. It most commonly indicates a return to the main tempo after a temporary change (e.g. a rallentando).David Fallows. 'Tempo giusto' in Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. www.oxfordmusiconline.com. Accessed 20 Feb 2015.

General

In the 17th and 18th centuries (

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

and early Classical), ''tempo giusto'' referred to the idea that each meter has its own 'ideal' tempo; this was also referred to as ''tempo ordinario'' (ordinary time). The larger the beat value of the meter, the slower the tempo. Therefore, meters with beat values of a minim/half note (e.g. , ) should be performed with a slow tempo; those with quaver/eighth note beats (e.g. ) are fast; while those with crotchet/quarter note beats (e.g. , , ) are performed at a moderate or middling tempo. This convention started in Italy in the 1600s ( seicento), and continued in Germany in the 1700s, as theorized by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1755) and Johann Kirnberger (1776; see sequel): Conventions existed for what the "correct" tempo for a particular style was, notably detailed for French dances in

Michel L'Affilard Michel L'Affilard (c.1656-1708) was a French tenor singer and the writer of a notable book on singing. Biography L'Affilard sang in the choir of Louis XIV from 1683 to 1708, with a salary of 900 ''livres''. He also composed airs de cour. L'Affila ...

(1691–1717). The composer and music theorist

Johann Kirnberger Johann Philipp Kirnberger (also ''Kernberg''; 24 April 1721, Saalfeld – 27 July 1783, Berlin) was a musician, composer (primarily of fugues), and music theorist. He was a student of Johann Sebastian Bach. According to Ingeborg Allihn, Kirnberg ...

(1776) formalized and refined this idea by instructing the performer to consider the following details in combination when determining the best performance tempo of a piece: the tempo giusto of the meter, the tempo term (''

Allegro Allegro may refer to: Common meanings * Allegro (music), a tempo marking indicate to play fast, quickly and bright * Allegro (ballet), brisk and lively movement Artistic works * L'Allegro (1645), a poem by John Milton * ''Allegro'' (Satie), an ...

'', '' Adagio'', etc., if there is one, at the start of the piece), the particular rhythms in the piece (taking account of the longest and shortest notes), the 'character' of the piece, and the piece's genre (whether it was a minuet,

sarabande The sarabande (from es, zarabanda) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance. History The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced by a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance cal ...

, gigue, etc.). In this way, an experienced musician could rely on his/her (informed) intuition to find the 'right' tempo. Occasionally, a composer will mark a piece ''tempo giusto'' to request the performer to use his/her experience in this way: that is, to intuit the correct tempo from the structure and nature of the piece itself. From the mid-18th century, the notion of each meter having an 'ideal tempo' fell out of fashion, as composers started preferring to indicate tempo with tempo terms and (later, in the nineteenth century) with metronome markings.

Life Movement

The term has given rise to a whole life movement, which advises the modern world to stop plowing through life at breakneck speed, and to start living instead at the “right tempo." Man is told to live in accordance with his own inner tempo. The artistic director of the

Madison Symphony Orchestra The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an orchestra headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Its conductor is John DeMain, who began his 28th season with the orchestra in the fall of 2022. The orchestra was founded in 1925 as a small community ensemb ...

, Maestro John DeMain, has said, “ w that I think about it, the idea of tempo giusto describes just about everything I do or aspire to."Anderson, Jess. "John DeMain: In Search of Tempo Giusto." ''Madison Magazine, August 2001.'' http://www.madisonmusicreviews.org/doc/p_200108_demain.html

General

Life Movement

References

See also