A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Battuta

BATTUTA (Ital. beat, or measure). 'A battuta,' like 'a tempo,' means a return to the strict beat. Beethoven uses the word in the Scherzo of the Choral Symphony—'Ritmo di tre battute,' 'Ritmo di quattro battute,' to signify that the rhythm in those places goes in groups of three bars or four bars respectively. In the Presto of his E flat Quartett (Op. 74), where the time changes to 'Più presto, quasi prestissimo,' he adds the direction 'Si ha s'immaginar la battuta di 6-8'—the movement being written in 3-4.