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Tempo markings, slowest to fastest

Published charts do not share one ladder for Italian tempo words. On the Wikipedia tempo article opened 2026-10-13, largo sits at 40–66 and prestissimo starts at 200, with presto at 168–200 between them. Metronomus, Arabesque Conservatory and a Lumen chapter, all read the same day, move several of those words. The table below keeps each chart’s own band. Walking pace has its own page: Andante BPM.

One table, from slow to fast

Wikipedia calls its BPM figures rough guides for a quarter-note beat in 4/4, ordered approximately from the slowest word to the fastest. The second column is a different page we actually opened on 2026-10-13, or, for the five guides already on this site, the range that guide already prints. Nothing here is an average of the two columns.

Tempo words we explain, slowest to fastest. Wikipedia read 2026-10-13.
Term Wikipedia tempo article Another chart we can point at
Largo 40–66 Metronomus 40–60. Arabesque 40–60. Lumen chapter 45–50.
Larghetto 44–66 Metronomus 60–66. OnMusic dictionary 60–66. Lumen chapter 50–55.
Lento 40–60 Arabesque 45–60. Lumen chapter 40–45. Metronomus prints no lento row.
Adagio 44–66 Our Adagio page says commonly 66–76. That older reading stays. This row does not replace it.
Andante BPM 56–108 Our Andante page says often 76–108, and it also shows narrower pages.
Moderato 108–120 Our Moderato page also shows 86–97 and 102–112 from other publishers.
Allegretto 112–120 Our Allegretto page spans 98–124 once every publisher on that page is included.
Allegro 120–156 Our Allegro page also shows 109–132 and 120–168.
Presto 168–200 Metronomus 168–200. Arabesque 168–200. Lumen chapter 168–177.
Prestissimo 200 and above Metronomus above 200. Arabesque 200 or more. The Lumen extract gives no prestissimo number.

Sources for the second column, read 2026-10-13 unless noted: Wikipedia, Tempo, Metronomus, Arabesque Conservatory (page updated September 2, 2026), Lumen / SUNY music appreciation, OnMusic larghetto. Adagio, Andante, Moderato, Allegretto and Allegro numbers are the ones already printed on those guides.

Presto stays on this page

Presto does not have a separate URL here. The row above is the whole guide: charts place it at 168–200, or 168–177 in the Lumen chapter, just under prestissimo. A second page would repeat that row. Vocabulary.com, read 2026-10-13, calls it a very fast tempo, faster than allegro, and also the magician’s word. It gives no BPM.

The clip is 20 seconds from a real recording of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14, third movement. The Commons file titles it presto. Wikipedia’s sonata article, read 2026-10-13, titles the movement Presto agitato in common time. Count quarters. Paul Pitman recorded it for Musopen. This is the same performer and the same public-domain release as the Allegretto already on our Allegretto page, which is the second movement, not this one.

Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 14, Op. 27 No. 2 — III. Presto agitato Paul Pitman, piano · common time (4/4) This excerpt’s strongest repeating lag is about 143 quarter notes per minute. Other windows of the same file sat about 125–150.

Those quarter-note counts sit slower than the 168–200 chart. The word on the movement and the chart band are both real; they are not the same fact. The 143 figure is this 20-second slice, which starts 80 seconds into the Pitman file. It is not a tempo marking Beethoven printed as a number.

How the 143 was estimated

The excerpt was decoded to mono, an onset envelope was built, and the strongest repeating lag inside 120–190 per minute was kept. The same check on other stretches of the full Pitman file, still inside that band, landed about 125–150. Common time is why the count is called a quarter note. Flexing the beat moves the figure. To time a recording of your own, use Tap Tempo.

Recording: Moonlight Sonata Presto.ogg on Wikimedia Commons. Music is public domain (PD-old-100). The recording is public domain by the author, Paul Pitman, permission ticket 2008012110017088. Musopen asks for attribution and asks people not to sell the recording itself. Wikipedia movement facts: Piano Sonata No. 14.

Tempo markings: quick answers

What are tempo markings?

They are the words, usually Italian, that tell a player the speed and character. A chart turns those words into beats per minute. Charts disagree, so this page shows more than one.

Which tempo marking is the slowest?

Among the words we publish, largo, larghetto and lento are the slow group. Wikipedia also lists larghissimo and grave slower than largo. We do not have separate pages for those two.

Where is presto?

On this page, in the table and in the Presto section. Prestissimo has its own comparison because the charts put it past presto’s top end.

Do I have to pick one column?

When the part already shows a metronome figure beside a note, follow the figure. When it shows only the Italian word, pick a column, name the note you will count, and pencil that choice onto the part.

What this chart cannot decide