Expression & tempo
A tempo
A tempo instructs the player to return to the previous speed after a passage that slowed down or sped up, most often following a ritardando or a rubato passage.
It cancels a temporary change rather than setting a new speed, which means you have to know which tempo it is returning to. After a ritardando in the middle of a movement, a tempo means the tempo before that ritardando, not the tempo at the start of the piece.
Where a composer wants the original opening tempo specifically, the marking is tempo primo or tempo I. Where a new speed is intended, a new marking appears instead.
In ensemble playing the return is a conducted moment, and players who have been stretching a rubato need to be watching for it, which is one of the everyday reasons a string section keeps one eye up.
Related terms
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