Allegro metronome markings

[jaco]

I know allegro means fast, joyful, lively etc. But what metronome range would you use for this speed. Allegro non troppo seems to indicate slighly slower "fats but not to fast"
so there seems to be a specified range of tempo for various "speeds". There seems to be some disparity between artists by their recordings of the same work. Any input?

[CraigF]

There is quite a large range. That’s why tempo markings such as Allegro non troppo exist. Before metronomes, composers had to try and describe the desired tempo. According to the markings on my metronome…

Allegro 120 – 168
Presto 168 – 208
Moderato 108 – 120
Andante 76 – 108
Adagio 66 – 76
Larghetto 60 – 66
Largo 40 – 60

Ones not listed above…
Lento – slower than Largo
Prestissimo – faster than Presto
Allegretto – between Allegro and Moderato

[Dan Krhla]

That's a great bunch of advice, going to write that into my mando notebook right now...
Thanks for posting the "conversions"!

[Neil Gladd]

All that you need to remember is that Presto is faster than Allegro which is faster than Andante, and that each of those terms can cover a range of tempos. Do not accept any range of numbers written on a metronome as the absolute truth. Allegro for a baroque piece is probably slower than a romantic allegro, and what sounds too fast for one piece may be not fast enough for another. Even when the composer gives a metronome marking, it is sometimes suspect. For example, Schoenberg did not use a metronome to arrive at his metronome markings. He would play the piece through, with rubato, time himself, and then divide the time by the number of beats in the piece. Ultimately, you have to trust your ear for what sounds right.

I usually give a range of metronome markings for my own compositions, the slowest and fastest tempos that work for that particular movement.