A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Lento

LENTO, i.e. 'slow,' implies a pace and style similar to a slow Andante. Beethoven rarely uses it. One example is in his last Quartet op. 135, Lento assai. Mendelssohn employs it for the introduction to his Ruy Bias overture, but he chiefly uses it, like 'con moto,' as a qualification for other tempos—as Andante lento (Elijah No. i, and Op. 35, No. 5), Adagio non lento (Op. 31, No. 3), Adagio e lento (Op. 87, No. 3).

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