A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Veloce

VELOCE, CON VELOCITA, VELOCISSIMO 'Swiftly; with the utmost rapidity.' A term invented by the 'Romanticists,' generally used of an ad libitum passage in a quick movement, as, for instance, a scale-passage, or similar figure, in a cadenza. It indicates an increased rate of speed not, like accelerando, a gradual quickening of the time, but an immediate access of celerity, lasting evenly until the end of the passage or figure to which it is applied. The original time is then resumed without the words a tempo being required. In the large majority of cases, the term is only applied to loud passages, as frequently in the works of Chopin, and in the finale of Schumann's Sonata in F♯ minor, op. 11; but in one instance at least, the slow movement of his second concerto, the former composer applies it to a soft passage, coupling velocissimo with delicatissimo. No instance of its occurrence is to be found in the works of the 'classical' masters strictly so called; its earliest use would seem to be in that work of Chopin's which Schumann's criticism immortalised, the 'La ci darem' Variations, where, however, it is applied to an entire variation. Under such conditions it must be regarded as equivalent to Presto con fuoco. It is worthy of notice that in Czerny's 'Etudes de la Velocité' the direction occurs only once, and then in the superlative, applying moreover to an entire study.

[ J. A. F. M. ]