Tempo Rubato in The Eighteenth

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O rder N u m b er 8804554
Tempo rubato in the eighteenth century
Blake, Carl LeRoy, D.M.A.

Cornell University, 1988
tj
C opyright © 1988 b y B lake, Carl LeRoy. A ll rights reserved.
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R e p ro d u c e d with p e rm issio n o f th e co p y rig h t o w n er. F u rth e r re p ro d u c tio n p ro h ib ite d w ith o u t p e rm is sio n .
TEMPO RUBATO IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
A Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School
of Cornell University
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts
by
Carl LeRoy Blake

January, 1988
© Carl LeRoy Blake 1988
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Biographical Sketch
Carl LeRoy Blake was bom September 25, 1951 in Liberty,

Missouri. Majoring in piano performance, he received the Bachelor
of Music degree (magna cum laude) from Boston University in
1973 and the Master of Arts degree from San Jose State University
in 1976. Additional studies include a year abroad with Pierre
Sancan of the Paris Conservatory of Music in 1981, sponsored by a
grant from Today's Artists Concerts, Inc. of San Francisco.
In 1978, Blake became the first recipient of the Marian
Anderson Young Artist Award in San Francisco. Having concertized
in num erous American cities as well as England, France and
Jamaica, he made a New York debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in
1986.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express gratitude to members of my special

committee whose counsel and editorial assistance greatly
contributed to clearer exposition of my ideas: Professors Neal
Zaslaw, Lenore Coral, Malcolm Bilson and John Hsu.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Tosi Rubato 11
Syncopation Rubato 30
Metric Rubato 61
C. P. E. Bach Rubato 75
Summary 86
Appendix 99
Bibliography 120
List of Musical Figures
1. Caccini, Le nuove musiche (1602), Preface 8

2. Galliard, Observations (1723), Plate VI, no. 8 17 -
3. Garcia, Traite complet (1847), Part 2, 24 24
4. Garcia, Traite complet. Part 2,24 25
13. Quantz, V ersuch (1789), Table VIII, fig. 4 32
14. Quantz, Versuch. Table VIII, fig. 4e and 4f 32
15. Agricola, Anleitung. 219 34
16. Kimberger, Die Kunst (1771-79),Ex. 11.7 36
17. Kimberger, Die K unst. Ex. 11.8 36
18. Kimberger, Die K unst. 224 38
19. Hiller, Anwelsung (1774), 89 39
20. Hiller, Anweisung. 129 40
21. Turk, Klavlerschule (1789), 323 42
22. Turk, Klavlerschule. 375 43
23. Marpurg, Principes (1756), Tab. II, fig. 41 and 42 45
24. Marpurg, Principes. Tab. II, fig. 49 45
vi
25. Couperin, Pieces (1713), Table of Ornaments
Rameau, Pieces (1724), Table of Ornaments 46
26. Marpurg, Principes. Tab. II, fig. 45 and 46 47
27. Marpurg, Principes. Tab. II, fig. 50 47
28. Marpurg, Anleitung (1763), Chapter 17, figs. 3and 4 47
29. E. W. Wolf, Musikalisches Unterricht (1788), Vol. 2,29 49
30. Galeazzi, Elementi (1791), Tab. VIII, ex. 31 51
31. Adam, Methode (1805), 156 57
32. Pollini, Metodo (1810), 63 58
33. Baillot, L’Art du violon (1834), 137 59
34. Baillot, L'Art du violon. 137 60
35. G. F. Wolf, Lexikon. 89 63
36. Turk, Klavierschule (1789), 375 64
37. Turk, Klavierschule. 375 65
38. Turk, Klavierschule. 375 65
39. Koch, Allgemeine Musikalisches Zeitung
May 11, 1808, Col. 515 67
40. Koch, AMZ. #33. Col. 515 67
41. Koch, AMZ. #33, Col. 516 67
42. Koch, AMZ. #33, Col. 516 68
43. Koch, AMZ. #33, Col. 517 68
44. Koch, AMZ. #33, Footnote 69
45. Koch, AMZ. #33, Footnote 69
46. Koch, Musikalisches Lexikon (1802), p. 775 69
47. E. W. Wolf, Musikalisches Unterricht (1788), Vol. 2, 29 97
48. Koch, AMZ. #33, Col. 514 107
49. E. W. Wolf, Musikalisches Unterricht (1788), Vol. 2, 29 118
List of Musical Examples
1. G. Telemann, Largo from Trio No. 3 in g in Mather and

Lasocki's Free Ornamentation in Woodwind Music
1700-75. New York: McGinnis & Marx Music Publishers,
1976. 19
2. W. Mozart, Andante from Piano Concerto in C. K. 503.

New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1970. 22
3. P. Hoffmann's embellished version of Mozart's Andante from

Piano Concerto in C. K. 503. New York: W. W. Norton
and Co., 1970. 23
4. J. Haydn, Allegro from Piano Sonata in C, Hob. XIV: 50 in

The Complete Piano Sonatas. Vol. 3. Vienna: Wiener
Urtext Edition, 1964. 52
5. W. Mozart, Adagio from Piano Sonata in c, K. 457 in The

Piano Sonatas. Vol. 2. The New Mozart Edition. Kassel:
Barenreiter, 1986. 52
6. W. Mozart, Adagio from Piano Sonata in F, K. 332 in The

7. W. Mozart, Adagio from Piano Sonata in F, K. 332 in The

8. W. Mozart, Rondo in a . K. 511. Neue Mozart Ausgabe. Ser. IX:

Grp. 27, Vol. 2. Kassel: Barenreiter, 1982. 54
9. W. Mozart, Rondo in a. K. 511. Neue Mozart Ausgabe. Ser. IX:

VIII
10. W. Mozart. Rondo in a . K. 511. Neue Mozart Ausgabe. Ser. IX:
11. C. Graun, Recitative "Nun klingen Waffen" from Per Tod

Je su . Madison: A-R Editions, Inc., 1975. 63
12. A. Vivaldi, "Usignuoli che Piangete" from L'Usignuolo in

Neumann's Ornamentation in Baroque and Post-Baroque
Music. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978, 516. 71
13. W. Mozart, Rondo in a . K. 511. Neue Mozart Ausgabe. Ser. IX:

14. W. Mozart, Allegro from Piano Sonata in F, K. 332 in The

15. M. Clementi, Allegro from Piano Sonata in g, "Didone

Abbandonata," Op. 50/3 in The London Pianoforte School.
Vol. 4. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.,1985. 72
16. L. Beethoven, Adagio grazioso from Piano Sonata in G,

Op. 31/1 in Piano Sonatas. Vol. 2. Munich: Henle
Verlag, 1976. 74
17. L. Beethoven, Adagio grazioso from Piano Sonata in G,

Op. 31/1 in Piano Sonatas. Vol. 2. Munich: Henle
Verlag, 1976. 74
18. C. Bach, Tempo di Minuetto from Piano Sonata B-flat,

Wq. 5 0 /5 in Sechs Sonaten mit Veranderten Reprisen
Wq. 50. Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag, 1976. 78
19. C. Bach, Allegro moderato from Piano Sonata in c, Wq. 5 0 /6

in Sechs Sonaten mit Veranderten Reprisen Wq. 50.
Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag, 1976. 78
ix
20. C. Bach, Allegretto moderato from Piano Sonata in G,
Wq. 5 5 /6 in Die Sechs Sammlungen von Sonaten. freier
Fantasien und Rondos fur Kenner und Liebhaber. Vol. 1.
Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1954. 79
21. C. Bach, Tempo di Minuetto from Piano Sonata in B-flat,

22. C. Bach, Larghetto from Piano Sonata in B-flat, Wq. 5 0 /5 in

Sechs Sonaten mit Veranderten Reprisen Wq. 50.
Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag, 1976. 80
23. C. Bach, Allegretto grazioso from Piano Sonata in d,

Wq. 50. Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag. 1976. 81
24. C. Bach, Adagio sostenuto from Piano Sonata in B-flat,

Wq. 50. Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag. 1976. 81
25. C. Bach, Adagio sostenuto from Piano Sonata in d,

26. J. Hummel, Adagio from Piano Sonata in D, Op. 106 in

his Methode complete. Geneva: Minkoff Reprint, 1981,
452. 83
27. J . Hummel, Larghetto a capriccio [Adagio] from Piano

Sonata in D, Op. 106 in the Complete Piano Sonatas.
Vol. 2. London: Pro Musica Rara. 83
28. F. Chopin, Larghetto from Piano Concerto in f. Op. 21.

Warsaw: Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, 1961. 85
29. F. Chopin, Larghetto from Piano Concerto in f. Op. 21.

30. F. Benda, Adagio u n poco andante from Sonata in A for
Accompanied Violin in Quattro sonate per violino solo
e d'archi con accompagnamento. Prague: Statni Hudebni
Vydavatelstvi, 1962. 88

32. W. Mozart, Adagio from Piano Concerto in B-flat, K. 595 in

The Piano Concertos Nos. 23-27. New York: Dover
Publications, Inc., 1978. 90
33. Embellishment of Ex. 32 by Abbe von Stadler [?] in W. A.

Mozart: Kritischer Bericht. Klavierkonzerte. Neue Mozart
Ausgabe. Ser. V, Grp. 15, Vol. 7. Kassel: Barenreiter,
1964. 90
34. C. Bach, Allegro from Piano Sonata in c, Wq. 5 0 /6 in Sechs

Sonaten mit Veranderten Reprisen Wq. 50. Winterthur:
Amadeus Verlag, 1976. 91


37. W. Mozart, Larghetto from Piano Concerto in B-flat, K. 595

in The Piano Concertos Nos. 23-27. New York: Dover
38. C. Blake's embellishment of Ex. 37. 93
39. F. Chopin, Prelude No. 1 in C from The Preludes fOp. 281.

xi

42. W. Mozart, Larghetto from Piano Concerto in B-flat, K. 595

in The Piano Concertos Nos. 23-27. New York: Dover

44. J . Haydn, Andante from Piano Sonata in e. Hob. XVI: 22 in

Klaviersonaten. Vol. 2. Munich: G. Henle, 1970. 95
45. F. Benda. Presto scherzando from Sonata in A for

Accompanied Violin in Quattro sonate per violino solo
e d'archi con accompagnamento. Prague: Statni Hudebni
Vydavatelstvi, 1962. 96

xii
INTRODUCTION
J u s t as there is a great distance between grammar and

rhetorical delivery, there is also an infinitely great
distance between musical notation and artistic perfor
mance. 1 Francois Couperin, L'Art de toucher le clavecin.
In musical parlance, tempo rubato is a curious and fugitive

expression, having caused a good deal of discussion and confusion
throughout generations of music-making. Literally meaning "stolen
time," tempo rubato is a performance practice which derived from
the art of ornamentation of the Italian vocal tradition dominant in
Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Tempo
rubato has both a general and a specific meaning. The general
meaning of tempo rubato is inextricably tied to general
ornamentation, th at is, all ornamentation is to be realized within
the strict time of the bass, or in the absence of the bass, within the
strict time of the prescribed note th at is being embellished. The
specific meaning is that which eighteenth-century treatise writers
advocated as one of the extraordinary means th at singers and
instrum entalists employed for the purpose of heightening
expression of musical passages of a pathetic, cantabile, tender,
languishing or melancholy nature. Tempo rubato as a specific
m anner of embellishment is chiefly effected in two characteristic
ways: (1) by melodic displacement, th at is, the anticipation or
retardation of notes of the melody over a rhythmically steady
accompaniment; and (2) by metric or accentual displacement, that
1 Francois Couperin, The Art of Plavlng the Harpsichord (Fails, 1716 and 1717), trans. by
Margery Halford (Sherman Oaks, Calif.: Alfred Publishing Co., Inc.: 1974), 28.
2
is, the shift of emphasis from strong to weak beats or parts of beats
in such a way th at the natural pulse of a meter is temporarily
contradicted.
In addition to tempo rubato, eighteenth-centuxy writers
advocated another means of heightening expression by tempo
modification (i.e., speeding or slowing the general tempo of the
piece). This device required the acceleration or retardation of the
entire fabric of a musical passage in order to reflect the meaning of
the sung text or to highlight changing affect within a given musical
section. Composers as early as the sixteenth century encouraged
performers to manipulate the tempo toward this end, for example:
Luis (de) Milan in his fantasies for lute, El maestro, libro de musica
de vihuela de mano (1535); Caccini in his set of solo cantatas, Le
nuove musiche (1601); Frescobaldi in his Toccate e partite. Primo
Libro (1615); Thomas Mace in his Musick's Monument . . . (1676)
and Frangois Couperin in his L'Art de toucher le clavecin (1716).
Eighteenth-century treatises recommended the use of tempo
modification mostly in texted music (e.g. recitative) or music of free
form (e.g. preludes, toccatas, fantasies, etc.) as well as in sections of
music signified by fermatas, cadences, caesuras and cadenzas. It
should not be surprising to learn th at this means of expression
existed in musical eras which were obsessed with laws of
declamation and the theory of affects, and in which the rate of
speed of musical performance was guided by hum an pulse or hum an
movement (dance or march). It is even conceivable th at this kind
of tempo deviation has always served musicians as a means of
expression. However, this form of tempo modification is not
equivalent to the eighteenth-century meaning of the term tempo
rubato; eighteenth-century treatises clearly differentiated the one
3
from the other. For instance, in the sixth chapter of Turk’s

Klavierschule (entitled "Execution"), tempo rubato is listed as one
of the extraordinary means by which expression is heightened, in
contradistinction to playing freely (as in a prelude or recitative) and
to modifying the entire structure of a musical passage by
acceleration or retardation of time.
Among these (extraordinary means of expression! I

include particularly the following: (1) playing without
keeping steady time; (2) quickening and hesitating;
(3) the so-called tempo rubato. These three resources
when used sparingly and at the right time can be of great
effect.2
Probably due to its more common use, tempo modification did not
w arrant a special name as did tempo rubato. Although both tempo
modification and tempo rubato are liberties of execution whose
employment is left to the discretion of the performer, the former
type of execution exhibits tempo freedom of an entire musical
fabric (i.e. melody, bass and inner parts simultaneously), thus
affecting the general pace of the composition, whereas the latter
type enjoys a more limited degree of freedom exclusively affecting
the melody. This essay will be concerned only with tempo rubato
as melodic modification, rather th an with tempo modification,
which was called tempo rubato only subsequently in the nineteenth
century. For the remainder of this essay the term "tempo rubato"
will be used in its eighteenth-century sense.3
2 Daniel Gottlob TOrk, School of Keyboard Plavlng fKlavlerschulel (Leipzig, 1789), trans. by
Raymond H. Haggh (Lincoln, Nebr.: University of Nebraska Press, 1982), 359.
3 While acknowledging my indebtedness to the provocative discussions of tempo rubato by
Lucian Kamlenskl, Boris Bruck and, more recently, Karen Rosenak, I also recognize their
limitations. Lucian Kamlenskl, "Zum Tempo rubato,'" Archly for Muslkwlssenschaft. Vol. I
4
Such questions as the following remain to be raised and

answered about tempo rubato. What is the literal meaning of the
expression "tempo rubato" and what are its equivalents in French,
German and English? What are the true origins and essential
properties of the practice? Among the various concepts of tempo
rubato, what is the most satisfactory categorization th at can be
suggested in order to distinguish one concept from another? Do
the contexts in which tempo rubato is discussed temper these
discussions? Are there national traits th at influence certain
concepts? Which of those concepts are evolved from earlier ones?
Are there any concepts that, due to their uniqueness or originality,
deserve separate categorization? What social or ideological
conditions are manifest in some of the descriptions? What are the
musical conditions under which the execution of tempo rubato is
undertaken? When or where is it an improvisational practice, a
compositional device, or both? How much does the particular
instrumentation shape the nature of the rubato? What does the
practice of tempo rubato tell us generally about music-making in
the eighteenth century? Finally, what guidelines can be provided in
reconstructing its practice for modem performers interested in
historically-informed performance? These are the some of the
questions with which this essay is concerned.
Rubato. the elliptical expression for tempo rubato, claims its

etymological roots in Old High German, roubon. and Middle High
German, rouben. The next transformation of the word appears as
(1918-19): 108-26. Boris Bruck, "Wandlungen des Begrlffes Tempo rubato," Ph.D. diss.,
Erlangen (1928). Karen Rosenak, "Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Concepts of Tempo
Rubato," D.M.A. diss., Stanford University, 1978.
5
rouban (Old High German) and reuben (Middle High German).

These latter words migrate to Italy to become the intransitive verb
rubare. meaning to rob or to steal. Rubare. depending on its usage
with other words, yields such nuances of meaning as: to captivate,
to seduce, to charm, to give short weight, to waste, to pilfer, or to
covet.4 The formulation of the term rubare for musical purposes
first appears in the seminal writing of Pier Francesco Tosi who
used the following expressions in his vocal treatise entitled
Opinioni de' cantori antiche e modemi: "rubare il Tempo" and "il
rubam ento di Tempo" ("to steal the time" and "the stealing of time,"
respectively).5 Although the concept of "stealing time" became
known in the French, German and English languages as tempo
rubato, it also became known by other terminology. In French,
tempo rubato was known as: tem(p)s vole, tem(p)s derobe, tempo
robato or tempo disturbato. German equivalents were many:
gestohlenes Tempo, gestohlene Zeit, geraubt schwankendes
Tempo, geraubtes Zeitmaass, geraubtes entwendetes Zeitmaass,
entwendetes Zeitmaass, veixucktes Zeitmaass, Tonverziehung,
Verrtickung, Verziehen der Noten, Vorausnehmen der Noten, or
Versetzen. Tempo rubato was known in English also as "the
stealing of time."
The practice of ornamentation played a central role in the

education of eighteenth-century musicians and in the development
of their individual styles of performance. The main reason for this
is th at the eighteenth-century performer was required to
4 Muret-Sanders, Enzvklopadlsches engllsch-deutsches Wflrterbuch (Berlin: Der
Langenscheidtschen Verlagsbuchhandlung und Buchdruckerel, 1906), II, 1628-29.
5 Pier Francesco Tosl, Opinion! de* cantori antiche e modem! (Bologna, 1723). Facsimile
edition (Zurich: Hermann Moeck Verlag, 1966), 82, 99.
6
participate actively in the final stages of the process of composition

through his spontaneous contributions in performance. It was
customary in eighteenth-century musical treatises to divide the art
of ornamentation into two main categories: essential ornaments and
extemporized (arbitrary or free) embellishments. Essential
ornaments, consisting of appoggiaturas, trills, turns, mordents,
slides, etc., were often prescribed by the composer in the score,
notated either by a few small notes or by fixed signs. The function
of these ornaments was to enliven and clarify the nature of
melodies and to provide accent to the rhythm. On the other hand,
extempore embellishments, seldom written out, were improvised
by the performer himself and were primarily concerned with
melodic decoration and continuity. They involved the following
means: (1) the spontaneous application of additional essential
ornaments; (2) the addition or subtraction of notes in the melody;
(3) the exchange or supplementation of melodic figures;
(4) changes in articulation and/or dynamics; (5) the use of special
devices such as portamento, messa di voce, arpeggiation, etc.; and,
finally, (6) manipulation of the melody by rhythmic displacement.
It is by the last means that tempo rubato is principally effected,
although the other devices can also be enlisted in its service.
Scholars of early music, among them Dannreuther, Dolmetsch,
Donington, Neumann and Howard Mayer Brown, ascribe the early
use of "stealing" or "borrowing" time in melodies to the
embellishing techniques of such Italian vocal masters of the late
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries as Zacconi, Caccini and
others.6 Frederick Neumann points out th at Zacconi, in the
6 See Howard Mayer Brown, Embellishing 16th-century Music (bondon: Oxford Univ.
Press, 1976, 67) for a lull discussion of these techniques. A more recent discussion of
7
preface to his Prattica di musica. . . (Venice, 1592), recommended

the moderate use of agogic manipulations as a form of
ornamentation when he spoke of notes th at "are attended by some
accenti produced by the slowing down and the sustaining of the
voice, and realized by taking a particle from one note and adding it
to another one" (italics mine).7 This kind of embellishment was
guided by poetic conception, word meaning or syllable lengths.
Likewise, Caccini, in the preface to Le nuove musiche of 1601,
stated:
Indeed there are many things used in good singing

style th a t are written in one way but, to be more
graceful, are effected in quite another (whence some
are said to sing with more, some with less, grace).8
Caccini then proceeded to demonstrate the changes which melodic

passages may acquire during execution (Fig. 1).
embellishing techniques of Italian composer-singers of the late sixteenth century can be

found In Robert Greenlee, "Dispostttone di voce: passage to florid singing," Earlv Music XV/1
(Feb. 1987): 47-55.
7 Ludovico Zacconi. Prattica di musica.. . (Venice, 1592), I, f. 56r.: "le dette figure
s'accompagno con alcuni accenti causatl d'alcune rittardanze & sustentamenti di voce che si
fanno col tone una partlcella d'una flgura & attriburla all'altra." Trans, by F. Neumann,
Ornamentation in Baroque and Post-Baroque Music (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press,
1978), 22.
8 Glulio Caccini, Le nuove musiche (Florence, 1601), Ed. by H. Wiley Hitchcock (Madison:
A-R Editions, Inc., 1970), 50. The original text reads (Preface 'To the Readers"): " Ma perche
molte sono quelle cose, che si usano nella buona maniera di cantare, che per trovarsi in esse
magglor grazla, descritte in una maniera, fanno contrario efletto l'una dall'altra, onde si dice
altrul cantare con plu grazla 6 men grazia..." The term that Caccini uses to describe this
practice is sprezzatura meaning well-bred negligence or studied carelessness. Cacclni's
examples are found on pages 51-52 of the Hitchcock edition. Hie facsimile edition contains
no page numbers.
3C
ft UxrH*4 f i j g '~
TmIU 7\iUo
za.
6
ig J-
3t±±
te jS
§ 5 ir»
... J 1* * r 1 -°l
Fig. 1. Caccini's examples.
Regarding these examples of Caccini’s, Dannreuther comments on

the relationship between their notation and their execution.:
To understand how little divisions can be taken as

representing tempo rubato. it should be remembered
th at they are extracts from Caccini’s solo cantatas--
operatic airs for a single voice and bass. It was the
9
constant tradition of the older Italian singers th a t all

deviations from strict regularity in the vocal part m ust
be made to chime with the movement of the bass. In
other words, the bass as a rule proceeds in time, and the
vocalist is free to introduce his graces and divisions
only in so far as they accord with the steady measure
indicated by the bass. And this is the essence of tempo
rubato.9
As well as demonstrating some of the rhythmic formulas which

a performer can use to effect freedom in the melody, Caccini's
examples demonstrate the equation inherent in each formula.
Anticipation of one note requires the abridgement of another (see
exx. 2, 3, 5, 6); conversely, retardation of one note is achieved by
the lengthening of another (observe the second beats, exx. 4, 7);
accentuation of weak beats is accomplished a t the expense of
strong beat de-emphasis (ex. 1); prolongation of a note is
accompanied by a compensatory shortening of the subsequent notes
(exx. 8, 9); and, even rhythmic motion is exchanged for uneven
motion (exx. 2 and 5). All of these techniques of altering the
melody are realized without injury to the over-all temporal
structure. One fundamental property of tempo rubato is th at the
sum of the varied parts m ust always equal the original whole.
The primary sources which have been found to contain
descriptions of tempo rubato of the eighteenth century include:
Tosi and his translators and commentators Galliard and Agricola,
Quantz, Marpurg, Kimberger, Schulz, Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart,
Hiller, Reichardt, E. W. Wolf, Turk, Schubart, C.P.E. Bach, G. F. Wolf,
Galeazzi, Koch, Haser, Adam, Pollini, Baillot, and Garcia. On the
9 Edward Dannreuther, Musical Ornamentation. Vol. I (London: Novello, Ewer and Co..
1893), 35-36.
10
basis of my understanding of these sources, I have detected four

basic categories of rubato: (1) Tosi rubato, (2) syncopation
rubato, (3) metric rubato, and (4) C. P. E. Bach rubato.10 This
study will investigate these categories in turn.
10 Karen Rosenak devised a categorization of three types of eighteenth-century rubato from

which I have borrowed the first designation 'Tosi rubato" (see pp. 4 and 19 of her dissertation
"Eighteenth and Nineteenth Concepts of Tempo Rubato"). However, I do not find the
terminology of her second category "rhythmically altered melody against a steady bass"
satisfactory because it Is cumbersome and the technique that the phrase characterizes Is a
significant part of the first category or 'Tosi rubato," therefore, not clearly enough
distinguishing the one from the other. Hence, I have renamed the second category
"syncopation rubato." Whereas Rosenak called the third category "accentual displacement," I
have chosen to call It instead "metric rubato" since accentual displacement, being the
essential feature of both syncopation and metric rubato, should either be used to label both or
neither of the types. Although syncopation and metric rubato could be comprehended under
the larger designation of accentual displacement, I prefer to make a distinction since one can
clearly be made. In my estimation, the originality of C.P.E. Bach's concept of rubato found In
the later edition of his keyboard treatise justifies a separate category (my fourth).
TOSI RUBATO
Pier Francesco Tosi (1653-1732) was internationally recognized

as a m aster of the bel canto tradition. In later years when his voice
failed, he continued to serve the art of music through composition,
teaching and writing. His book on singing, Opinioni de' cantori
antichi e modemi (Bologna, 1723), received two complete
translations with commentaries in the eighteenth century: one by
John Ernest (Johann Ernst) Galliard, Observations on the Florid
Song. . . (London, 1743); and the other by Johann Friedrich
Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst (Berlin, 1757).11 In actuality,
Tosi's book is a diatribe against the widespread introduction of the
new vocal style ("modem") at the expense of the older bel canto
style ("former") which Tosi extolled as the superior one and by
which his international fame had been won.
It should be noted th at Tosi's book was written exclusively for
singers, and, moreover, singers of florid song. Singers, of course,
have texts. A text contains its own meaning, rhythmic inflection
and declamation and, if skillfully set by a composer, its meaning is
enhanced by the music. On the other hand, instrumentalists, who
have no such texts, are obliged to resort to other means of
conveying the content of the music, including grammatical,
oratorical and pathetic accents and ornamentation chiefly of vocal
origin. However skillful the musical setting of a text by the
composer was, it was not sufficient unto itself. The singer was
expected, and sometimes required, to freely embellish the melody
11 Tosi's book received a French translation in the nineteenth centuiy by Theodore Lemaire
as L'Art du chant: Opinions sur les chanteurs anclens et modemes. ou Observations sur le
chant figure (Paris, 1874).
11
12
according to his own taste and in the style of the composition and
the composer. Particularly in the realm of vocal performance,
embellishment was an integral part of composition. Thus, the most
natural setting of tempo rubato is found in vocal music where the
heightening of expression is dictated by the nature of the text.
Tosi's concept of tempo rubato differs from most other
concepts in th at it is a general prescription for handling time in
ornamenting a melody rather th an a specific manner of melodic
embellishment. Tosi enumerated time as one of the five qualities
indispensable to the perfection of the singer’s art, the others being
judgment, invention, art and taste. He stated th at beauty in singing
lies in the judicious use of time, th at is, in the strict adherence to it
as well as the freedom to disturb it:
He [one] will marvel at That Singer, who, having a good

Knowledge of Time, yet does not make use of it, for
want of having apply'd himself. His Mistake makes him
think that, to be eminent, it suffices to sing at Sight;
and does not perceive th a t the greatest Difficulty, and
the whole Beauty of the Profession consists in what he
is ignorant of; he wants th at Art which teaches to anti
cipate the Time, knowing how to lose it again, and which
is still more charming, to know how to lose it, in order
to recover it again; which are the Advantages of such as
understand Composition, and have the best Taste.12
Five references to the stealing of time are made in Tosi's book.

The first two references describe four requisite skills th a t the
executant m ust possess if his rubato execution is to be successfully
accomplished.
12 John Galllard, Observations on a Florid Sonff: or. Sentiments on the Ancient and
Modem Singers bv Pier Francesco Tosi (London: J. Wilcox, 1743), 164-65.
13
Whoever does not know how to steal the Time in

Singing, knows not how to Compose, nor to Accom
pany himself, and is destitute of the best Taste and
Knowledge. The stealing of Time, in the Pathetick,
is an honourable Theft in one th at sings better than
others, provided he makes a Restitution with Ingenuity.13
Adding a footnote to the above passage, Galliard articulated the

basic framework of tempo rubato.
Our Author [Tosi] has often mentioned Time; the Regard

to it, the Strictness of it, and how much it is neglected
and unobserv'd. In this Place speaking of stealing the
Time, it regards particularly the Vocal, or the Performance
on a single Instrum ent in the Pathetick and Tender: when
the Bass goes an exactly regular Pace, the other Part
retards or anticipates in a singular Manner, for the sake
of Expression, b u t after That returns to its Exactness,
to be guided by the Bass. Experience and Taste m ust
teach it. A mechanical Method of going on with the Bass
will easily distinguish the Merit of the other M anner.14
To understand composition, to have knowledge, to be able to

accompany oneself, and to display taste are the requisite skills of
the singer who would use rubato. A singer’s understanding of
composition includes having a grasp of its musical structure,
poetry, emotional depth and proper pronunciation of the text. This
also means to have sensitivity to word emphasis and syllable lengths
and, also, to know how to compose-out or embellish a melodic line.
A singer m ust know the thorough bass and be sensitive to the
13 John CalliaFd, Observations on a Florid Song. 156 (#41,42). Tosi's original text reads
(Opinion!. 99): "Chi non sa rubare 11Tempo cantando, non sa comporre, nft accompagnarsi, e
resta prtvo del migllor gusto, e della magglore intelligenza. II rubamento di Tempo nel
patetlco ft tin glorioso latroclnlo di chi canta meglio degli altri, purchft l'intendlmento, e
l'ingegno ne facciano una bella restituzione."
14 John Galliard, Observations on a Florid Song. 156.
14
harmonic and contrapuntal implications of his interaction with it.

The ability to accompany oneself translates into the singer's having
a strong sense of rhythm so th at he does not lose his place during
the course of embellishment. Good taste not only presupposes
knowledge of the numerous essential ornaments b u t also sensitivity
to their characters and functions. Good taste also consists in
knowing when and how to display one’s personal taste so th at the
style of the composition and the character and relation of one
musical thought to another are preserved.
Tosi sets the "Pathetick" (patetico) in opposition to the
"Allegro" in such a way as to differentiate them in character (the
Pathetick is "most delicious to the Ear, what most sweetly affects
the Soul, and is the strongest Basis of Harmony"), in tempo ("the
Pathetick and the Adagio are two inseparable friends"), in
compositional style ("the Allegro will now and then be mixed with
the Pathetick"), and in the manner of performance ("the Pathetick,
in which alone Taste and Judgm ent triumph").15 Rousseau
defined "pathetic" as a "kind of dramatic and theatrical music,
which tends towards the painting and touching of the nobler
passions, and more particularly grief and sorrow."16 Concerning
the notion of restitution, Galliard explained it as the reunion of the
bass and the melody at the point where the melodic dislocation
ceases.
Tosi’s third reference stated that tempo rubato is used not only
in the Pathetick and Tender, b u t also:
15 John Galliard, Observations on a Florid Song. 107, 111, 115, 180, respectively.
16 Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Dlctlonnalre de Muslaue (Paris, 1786): A Complete Dictionary of
Music, trans. by William Waring (London: J. Murray, 1779), 313.
15
in the Cantabile. in putting forth the Voice agreeably

fPortamentol. in Appoggiatura's. in Art, and in the true
Notion of Graces, going from one Note to another with
singular and unexpected Surprizes, and stealing the
Time exactly on the true Motion of the Bass.17
This passage means that tempo rubato results in slow, songful

pieces when one spontaneously ornaments the melody with graces
(e.g. appoggiaturas), portamento, passages, rhetorical gestures
("art"), anticipations and retardations while the bass maintains its
precise rhythm.
The fourth reference to stealing time is made in connection
with the execution of passi ("Graces"). Here Tosi instructs th at the
time required to realize the five types of embellishments, namely,
Appoggiatura, Trillo (Shake), Portamento di voce ("the putting forth
of the Voice"), Scivolo (Gliding) and Strascino (Dragging), should be
stolen from the bass because it is there th at these graces have their
center. All of these ornaments are used in the Pathetick.
That they be stol'n on the Time, to captivate the Soul.18
The above quotation seems like the redundant statement of a

truism unless one remembers that public performance in the
eighteenth century was often prepared with little rehearsal and
with performers reading from parts without a conductor (in the
m odem sense of the word) and often with no score. Therefore, any
17Galliard, Observations on a Florid Song. 129 (#5). The original text ofTosi i Opinion!. 82)
reads: "Ma nel cantabile, nella dolcezza del Portamento, nelle Agppogglature, nell'Arte, e nelT
Intelligenza de Passi, andando da una nota all'altra con slngolari, e inaspettati inganni con
rubamento del Tempo, e sul Moto de Bassl."
18 Galliard, Observations on a Florid Song. 177 (#23). The original text ofTosi (Opinion!.
113) reads: "Che sla rubato sul Tempo accid diletti ranlma.”
16
manipulation of the melodic line had to occur by necessity within

the regularity of the bass whose function was to serve as the
rhythmic and harmonic guide. Tosi's statem ent clarifies the
fundamental property or general meaning of tempo rubato.
The fifth and final reference is made in regard to the realization
of an ornament called Strascino, which is used in the Pathetick.19
But it is now time that we speak of the Dragging

[Strascino], th at if the Pathetick should once return
again into the World, a Singer might be able to
understand it. The Explanation would be easier to
understand by Notes of Musick than by Words, if the
Printer was not under great Difficulty to print a few
Notes, notwithstanding which, I’ll endeavour, the
best I can, to make myself understood. When on an
even and regular Movement of a Bass, which proceeds
slowly, a Singer begins with a high Note, dragging it
gently down to a low one, with the Forte and Piano,
almost gradually, with Inequality of Motion, th a t is to
say, stopping a little more on some Notes in the Middle,
th an on those th at begin or end the Strascino or Dragg.
Every good musician takes it for granted, th a t in the Art
of Singing there is no Invention superior, or Execution
more apt to touch the Heart than this, provided however
it be done with Judgment, and with putting forth of the
Voice in a ju s t Time on the Bass. Whosoever has most
Notes at Command, has the greater Advantage; because
this pleasing ornam ent is so much the more to be admired,
by how much the greater the Fall is. Perform'd by an
excellent Soprano, that makes use of it but seldom, it
becomes a Prodigy; b u t as much as it pleases descending,
no less would It displease ascending.20
19 Strascino comes from the veib "strasclcare," meaning to drag, trail or drawl.
20 Galliard, Observations on a Florid Song. 177-78 (#27, 28). Tosi's original text reads
fQplnlonl. 114-15): "Ma 4 ormai tempo, che si parli della bellezza dello Strascino, che se 11
patetlco tomasse al Mondo un Cantore sappla conoscerlo. La spiegazione sarebbe plu facile a
capirsl dalla Muslca, che dalle parole se lo Stampatore non avesse molta difficult^
17
Galliard supplied two examples to demonstrate this ornament (fig.

2). He did not give unomamented versions of his examples,
however, if one imagines the descending scales with even motion,
the effect of rubato (hurrying and hesitating) can be sensed.
Se S e e n ___
Fig. 2. Galliard's demonstration of

strascino (Plate VI, No. 8).
Several things suggest themselves through Tosi's explanation

and Galliard's examples of strascino: (1) these passages occur in
the penultimate bar of a cadence in a slow tempo with restitution in
the final bar; (2) unequal rhythmic motion makes the melodic line
freer and more supple; (3) dynamic inflection accompanies the
melodic motion (not in Galliard's ex. b u t in Tosi's explanation); and
d'imprimer poche note; NuUadlmeno cercherb alia megllo che posso di farml intendere.
Quando sul movlmento equale d'un Basso, che lento cammini di croma in croma un Vocalista
mette la prlma voce sugll acuti stracsinandola dolcemente al grave col forte, e col piano quasi
sempre di grado con dlsuguagHanza di moto, clofc fermando piu su qualche corda di mezzo, che
su quelle che principano, o flniscono lo strascino, ogni buon Muslco crede per indubitato, che
nell' arte migllore del Canto non vl sal invenzione, nft studio piu atto a toccar 11cuore di
questo, perchi sia perd formato dalla lntelligenza, e dal Portamento dl voce sul Tempo, e sul
Basso. Chi ha maggior dilatazlone di corde ha piu vantaggio, poichi questo vago omamento
tanto piu &mirabile quanto piu grande &la sua caduta. In bocca d'un famcso Soprano, che se
ne serva dl rado dlventa un prodigio; Ma se tanto place allorchft dlscende, altrettanto
dispiacerebbe ascendendo."
18
(4) the bass accompaniment is steady. Although this ornament is

specifically called strascino, it functions according to tempo rubato
procedures prescribed by Tosi and Galliard.
To summarize: tempo rubato, rather than being a fixed
ornament, is a procedure or embellishing technique th at is used in
the performance of certain passages in solo vocal or instrumental
music of a pathetic, tender or cantabile nature in a slow tempo.
The framework for tempo rubato is: (1) progression of the melody
and bass parts according to the musical score; (2) digression of the
melody from its prescribed course by extemporaneously employing
ornamental graces, anticipations, retardations, rhetorical devices
and passages (i.e. improvised passagework) while the bass
continues in steady time; and (3) return to the prescribed motion
of the melody and bass. The bass serves as the custodian of time
against which the melody enjoys its freedom. It is within this
dialectic of freedom and servitude that the practice of tempo rubato
finds its beauty of expression.
The discussion of tempo rubato by Tosi and in Galliard's
commentary are not to be used as recipes. They only list the
ingredients of a cuisine which permits many possibilities within the
limitations th a t the two writers imposed. Some of these
possibilities are realized in the following example (1) by Telemann.
Through the addition of prolonged notes, appoggiaturas and other
ornaments, Telemann h as heightened the expressiveness of the
melody while the bass, unaffected by the changes in the melody,
m arks the steady rhythm of the siciliano-like dance movement.
T«l Maim **
o rn m n tid
■•lodjr
• ts io
contiouo
Ex. 1. Telemann, Trio No. 3, Largo in 6/4.
Quantz, Leopold Mozart and Baillot all wrote about tempo rubato
in the context of accompanying a solo or concertante part. No
examples are supplied because their discussions are mostly
directed to the instrum ental accompaniment. For these writers,
the essence of rubato lay in the independent movement of the
melody and the complementary interdependence of the bass and
melody. These discussions warn the accompanist to be vigilant for
the unsuccessful undertakings of rubato by soloists who may be
more daring than their skills should permit, commanding the
20
soloist to adjust his embellishments to the bass which serves as the

guide in the harmonic and rhythmic progression of the piece. Here
is one such discussion by Leopold Mozart. Similar discussions by
Quantz and Baillot may be found in the Appendix.21
Many, who have no idea of taste, never retain the even

ness of tempo in the accompanying of a concerto part,
but endeavor always to follow the solo part. These
are accompanists for dilettanti and not for masters.
When one is confronted by many an Italian songstress
or other such would-be virtuosi, who are not able to
execute in correct time even th at which they learn by
heart, even entire half-bars have indeed to be allowed
to drop out in order to rescue them from public dis
grace. But when a true virtuoso who is worthy of the
title is to be accompanied, then one m ust not allow
oneself to be beguiled by the postponing or anticipa
ting of the notes, which he knows how to shape so
adroitly and touchingly, into hesitating or hurrying,
b ut m ust continue to play throughout in the same
manner, or else the effect which the performer desired
to build up would be demolished by the accompaniment.22
21 Additional discussions in the context of solo performance rather than accompanying are
furnished by L. Adam and A F. Haser in the Appendix.
22 Leopold Mozart, A Treatise on the Fundamentals of Violin Plavlng (Augsburg, 1756),
trans. by Editha Knocker (London: Oxford University Press, 1948), 223-24. The original text
of L. Mozart (Versuch. 262-62) reads: "Viele, die von dem Geschmacke keinen Begriffhaben,
wollen bey dem Accompagnement einer concertlrenden Stimme niemals bey der Gleichheit
des Tactes blelben; sondem sle bemGhen slch limner der Hauptstlmme nachzugeben. Dies
slnd Accompagnisten vor StOmpler und nlcht vor Meister. Wenn man manche italiSnische
Sangerin, oder sonst solche Einblldungsvirtuosen vor slch hat, die dasjenlge, was sle
auswendig lemen, nlcht elnmal nach dem richtigen Zeltmaase fortbringen; da m uss man
freylich ganze halbe Tficte fahren lassen, um sle von der offentllchen Schande zu retten.
Allein wenn man elnem wahren Vlrtuosen, der dieses Tltels wdrdlg 1st, accompagnirer; dann
muss man slch durch dasVerzlehen. oder Voraushenmen der Noten. welches er alles sehr
geschlckt und rOhrend anzubringen wels, weder zum Zaudem noch zum Ellen verlelten
lassen; sondem allemal in gleicher Art der Bewegung fortspielen: sonst wOrde man dasjenlge
was der Concertist aulbauen wollte, durch das Accompanagnement wleder elnrelssen."
21
Leopold added a footnote to this passage:
A clever accompanist m ust also be able to sum up a

concert performer. To a sound virtuoso he certainly
m ust not yield, for he would then spoil his tempo
rubato. What this "stolen tempo" is, is more easily
shown than described. But on the other hand, if the
accompanist has to deal with a soi-disant virtuoso, then
he may often, in an adagio cantabile, have to hold out
many a quaver the length of half a bar, until perchance
the latter recovers from his paroxysms; and nothing
goes according to Time, for he plays after the style of
a recitative.23
Wolfgang Mozart wrote a pithy statem ent about tempo rubato in

a letter to his father Leopold (dated October 24, 1777) saying:
Everyone is amazed th at I can always keep strict time.

What these people cannot grasp is th at in tempo rubato
in an Adagio, the left hand should go on playing in strict
time. With them the left hand follows suit.24
was der Concertist aufbauen wollte, durch das Accompanagnement wieder einrelssen."
23 L. Mozart fVersuch. 263): "Ein geschickter Accompagnist m uss also elnen Concertlsten
beurtheUen kflnnen. Einem rechtschafTenen Vlrtuosen, darf er gewiss nlcht nachgeben: denn
er wflrde ihm sonst sein Tempo rubato verdeiben. Was aber das gestohlene Tempo 1st, kann
mehr gezeiget als beschrieben werden. Hat man hlngegen mlt elnem Vlrtuosen von der
Einblldung zu thun? da mag man oft In elnem Adagio Cantabile manche Achttheilnote die
Zeit eines halben Tactes aushalten, blss er gleichwohl von seinem paroxismus wieder zu slch
kflmmt; und es geht nlchts nach dem Tacte: derm er spielt Recltatlvlsch."
24 Emil/ Anderson, ed. and trans.. The Letters of Mozart and His Family (NewYork: St.
Martin's Press, 1966) letter of O ct 24,1777. The original text reads: "das lch immer accurat
im tactbleybe. Ober das verwundem sle slch alle. Das Tempo rubato In einem Adagio, das die
llncke hand nlchts darum welss, kflnnen sle gar nlcht begrelfen. bey ihnen glebt die llncke
hand nach." Wolfgang Amadfe Mozart: Brlefe und Aufeelchnungen. GesamtausgabeVol. 2
(Kassel: Bdrenrelter, 1962), 83.
22
The Hoffmann brothers, Heinrich Anton and Philipp Carl, both

of whom had the opportunity to play chamber music with Mozart in
Mainz, reported that Mozart did not play the adagios of his piano
concertos as simply and as plainly as they were notated but, rather,
he embellished them "tenderly and tastefully according to the
momentary inspiration of his genius."25 One only wonders what
sort of display this might have been. A passage which absolutely
demands such embellishment occurs in the Andante of the Piano
Concerto in C, K. 503.
-&r7 m
* H
f f y—
H H E_ t -y... t- .
& *
Ex. 2. W.A. Mozart, Andante 3 /4 in F
(bars 59-63).
Joseph Kerman points out th at the performance of such a passage

without embellishment would have struck Mozart and his
contemporaries as a "great peculiarity."26 Not only would it have
seemed peculiar, but, tasteless as well. Philip Carl Hoffmann,
whom I quoted above, furnished a decorated version to this same
Andante (ex. 3). Although not by Mozart, this version is more or
less representative of the type of rendition a proficient player of his
day could have given. Hoffmann's version, in my estimation, is a
25 Adam Gottron, "Wie spielte Mozart die Adagios seiner Klavlerkonzerte?” Die
Muslkforschune XIII (1960), 334.
26 Joseph Kerman ed. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Plano Concerto In C Malor K. 503 (New
York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1970), x-od. Kerman also suggested that such skeletal passages,
found In fast passages as well as slow, served as "guides to Mozart's own memory—or
Improvisation in a performance."
23
realization of what Mozart meant by his statement about tempo

rubato, a statem ent which replicated Tosi’s precept that all graces
"be stol’n on the Time" (i.e., bass or left hand).
60
Jt 6
/
Ex. 3. Hoffmann's realization of Ex. 2.
Although not an eighteenth-century figure, Manuel Garcia, in his

voice method book entitled Traite complet du l'art du chant (Paris,
1847),27 offered descriptions and examples of rubato conforming
to Tosi's prescriptions. Garcia stated in his introduction th at the
principles which his book teaches were derived from his father
(Manuel Garcia pere) with whom he studied and who belonged to
the bel canto tradition. I have reproduced Garcia's discussion and
examples not only because they are clear and instructive b ut also
because they show how tempo rubato was being appropriated by
27 Manuel Garcia. Tfraitfe Complet de l'Art du Chant (Paris. 1847) Vol. II (Geneva: Minkofif,
1985), 24-25. Garcia was a professor of voice at the Paris Conservatory and, subsequently, at
the Royal Academy of Music In London. His father (Manuel Garica pfire) was a leading
exponent of Rossini's operatic music and performed in the premiere of Mozart'sDon
Giovanni,
24
singers one hundred and twenty-five years after trie publication of

Tosi’s book. Garcia's thoughts furthermore help to remove some of
the mystery and confusion surrounding Tosi’s concept. In the
following examples, one will notice a wide range of tempos to
which Garcia applied tempo rubato, ranging from larghetto,
moderato, andantino, andante to allegro. Also, he most often
applied tempo rubato to phrase endings or to penultimate bars of
cadences.
Garcia defined tempo rubato (temps derobe) as the "momentary
prolongation of value th at is given to one or several notes at the
expense of others. This distribution of notes into long and short
serves to break up the the monotony of even rhythmic motion,
while at the same time, favoring the expression of strong
emotions."28 In figure 3, the constant eighth-note motion is
discontinued by triplet motion and in figure 4, eighth-note motion
gives way to sixteenth-note motion in order to relieve the phrase of
even rhythmic motion.
A u s ,. Ail? moderato.
. LBOKIXKTTX
Anna Bolena
ClMllU,
ti ram menta il mi . 0 cor . dogliononlasciarli non la .K ia rti lu .s io .g a r
-*■ | ^ * j. j |__ »
Execution / ]/ i ' — ~~ " ~ "Z *
oonlasciar. ti nonlasciar.ti lusitugar
Fig. 3. Garcia's example.
28 Garcia, Traite Complet. 24: "On appelle temps derobfi la prolongation momentanfee de
valeur que l'on accorde &un ou &plusieurs sons au detriment des autres. Cette distribution des
valeurs en longues et en brtves, en meme temps qu'elle sert A rompre la monotonle des
mouvements Sgaux, favorise les felans de la passion."
25
MOZAHT
Nozze
Al'ij.
m ijire s .ta s svu.aa spe - ran j a di can .g iar Tin . grn-to cor
Fig. 4. Garcia’s example.
Anticipations and retardations can be applied to melodic notes by

(1) adding time to some notes while others are robbed of their
prescribed value as in figure 5 and by (2) incorporating ornaments
such as the appoggiatura and the turn as in figure 6.
■ O IS IH I All? Kinilbi.
Gazza
Cintioa.
abgiadLm enJL co i m id tor m e n . Ii ' q u a n ji c o n . t e n . tl
— ---------»—•—* —2—^
execution.
d i.m e n Jic o imici (or men - ti q u a n .t i c o n - t e n . ti

z iH G A n rix i And' <’ moMO-
Romeo
Ruurfll.
nel fo r.tu n a .to e . Ii
nel f o r.tu n a . t o e . Ii . «o
The use of prolongation is permitted on appoggiaturas, on long

syllables, on important harmonic tones and on notes which one
wants to emphasize, as in Figures 7 and 8. In all of these cases, one
regains the lost time by accelerating other notes. Garcia stated that
tempo rubato is one of the most effective means of giving color
(coloratura) to melodies.29
29 Garcia, Traltfe Complet. 24: "On accorde cette prolongation aux appoggiaturas, aux notes
26
Larghetto. L u c ia .
aonxxETTi
L ucia
C iM in * .
p er.ibi non bo del veo .

bil vo . _ _ . Io
B O aiZ E T T I ll'/niod1." A nna

A nna Bolena
CoalilU
reg . gio gaglio ii 6e . du - ce
Tempo rubato is also useful in facilitating the execution of trills by

allowing their preparation to take place on the preceding note
(figures 9 and IO).30
Liuritiro. A n d a o lin o .
R O S S IN I
Italians iu iVlgieri
Car.iina. la n - g u ir p e ru .n a

qul portent la syllable longue, aux notes naturellement saillantes dans l'harmonle, ou A celles
que l'on veut faire ressortlr. Dans tous ces cas, on regagne le temps perdu en accelerant les
autres notes. C'est un des meilleurs precedes pour donner de la couleur aux melodies."
Without relating it to tempo rubato, TQrk similarly advocated prolongation or "lingering' on
notes of importance in his Klavierschule when he wrote: "Another means of accent, which is
used much less often and with great care, is lingering on certain tones. The orator not only
lays more emphasis on important syllables and the like, but he also lingers upon them a
little. But this kind of lingering, when it occurs in music, cannot, of course, always be of the
same duration, for it appears to me to depend upon (1) the greater or lesser importance of the
note, (2) its length and relationship to other notes, and (3) the harmony which is basic to
them." TQrk also remarked that such lingering should be scarcely perceptible and he gave the
general rule that a note "should at the most not be lengthened more than half of its value.. . .
That the following note loses as much of its value as has been given to the accentuated note
goes without saying." fSchool of Keyboard Plaving. trans. by R Haggh, 328-29).
30 Garcia, Trait6 Complet. 25: "Le tempo rubato est encore utile sous un autre rapport: il
facillte la preparation du trille en permettant de prendre cette preparation su r les valeurs qul
precedent."
27
Cout*. Andante
R o s s in i
Barbiere „ ,
r / T
ec . co ri.d e o .te il rie . . Io spun.ta la bel . la an
spunla . la bel.la a u ro .
Garcia stated that a sensitive rendition of tempo rubato requires

rhythmical precision in the accompaniment. Within this
framework, the singer is free alternatively to prolong and to
shorten small notes values, in order to give the melodic phrase a
new dimension ("un relief tout nouveau"). While accelerandos and
rallentandos require the accompaniment and the melody to move
simultaneously, th at is, speeding and slowing at the same time,
"tempo rubato, on the contrary, only grants this liberty in the
melody."31 Garcia went as far to say that the singers commit a
serious mistake if, in wanting to render the phrase with warmth,
they use a ritardando instead of tempo rubato in the penultimate
bar of Figure 11.
31 Garcia, Traltfe Complet. 24: "Pour rendre sensible l'eflet du tempo rubato dans le chant, il
faut soutenir avec precision la mesure de l'accompagnement. Le chanteur. llbre, A cette
condition, d'augmenter et de dimlnuer altemativement les valeurs partielles, pourra donner a
certalnes phrases un relief tout nouveau. Les accellerando et les rallentando exigent que
l’accompagnement et le chant marchent d t concert et ralentissent ou acc616rent ensemble le
mouvement. Le tempo rubato, au contraire, n'accorde cette liberty qu'au chant seul. On
commet done une faute grave lorsque, pour rendre avec chaleur les cadences si animtes du duo
du Barbiere. on emplole tout A coup le ritardando sur l'avant-demifere mesure au lieu
d'employer le tempo rubato."
28
aosiiHi fl"1*" ABe8ro-.

B arhiere
D ueU u.
b r a jo b r a o in w i.td cbera-vw uionehraM braro in v e ri.tt

^ ^ - > * *
cheiiuen ziooe b n tro braro in veri . ta che in.veaaionebra.« braro in v eri.ta
m m m
(A) bravobraro ia y e .ri . la
ziooie brarobraro io v e-ri . ta

In Figure 12, Garcia offered an approximation of one of the uses

th at his father made of tempo rubato. He advised that this method
of exploiting the melodic phrase required a refined rhythmic
sensibility and should be limited to passages where the harmony is
either stable or only slightly varied. The subtlety and delicacy of
rubato rendition are communicated through the use of dynamic
inflections, prolongations, suspensions, exchanging of notes and
early trill preparation. Garcia included the bass line in order to
show the necessity of rhythmic precision.32
32 Garcia. Tralte Complet. 25. Garcia wrote: 'Two artists of a veiy different class-Garcia
(my father) and Paganini, excelled in the use of tempo rubato. Against the steady
accompaniment of the orchestra, they would abandon themselves to their inspiration up til
the moment that the bass harmony changed or up to the very end of the phrase. But this
means requires above all an exquisite sense of rhythm and an imperturbable precision. One
can take recourse to this method only in passages where the harmony is stable or only
slightly varied. In all other cases, it would seem singularly troublesome to the ear and would
present great difficulty to the performer. Here is one successful application of this difficult
device, flhis example offers an approximation of one of the uses that my father made of
tempo rubato.)" The original text reads: "Deux artistes d'un genre trts-different, Garcia (mon
p&re) et Paganini, excellaient dans l'emploi du tempo rubato applique par phrase. Tandls que
l'orchestre soutenalt reguliferement la mesure. eux. de leur cfite. s'abandonnaient A leur
inspiration pour ne se rencontrer avec la basse qu'& l'instant oil 1'accord changeait, ou bien &
29
C ool#. A ll?
BOSIIHI
B arbiere
D u ello .
del v o l.c a n d e l_ la m La n i e n .le qual.che m o? _ Iro sin . go - lar
. <\ . A s 3 _ 'v _ - a
del v o l. can del . l a mi . amen _ te qual.clie mos - tro
Inspiration pour ne se rencontrer avec la basse qu'4 l'instant ou l'accord changeait, ou bien a
la fin meme de la phrase. Mais ce moyen exige avant tout un sentiment exquls du rhythme et
un aplomb imperturbable. On ne peut gu&re employer un pareil proctdG que dans les passages
oil l'harmonie est stable ou lfeg&rement varifee. Hors ces exceptions, il paraitrait
slnguli&rement dur &l'orielle et prtsenterait de grandes difllcult&s &l'exfecutant. Void
toutefois une application heureuse de ce moyen difficile. (Cet exemple oflre Vindication
approximative d'un des emplols que mon pire faisalt du tempo rubato)."
SYNCOPATION RUBATO
C. P. E. Bach aside, eighteenth-century north German writers,

namely, Quantz, Agricola, Marpurg, Kimberger, Schulz, Hiller,
Turk, Schubart and E. W. Wolf, conceptualized tempo rubato as
melodic displacement by the anticipation and retardation of notes,
characteristically known as syncopation. Syncopation rubato was
applied to the melody of a homorhythmic texture in such a way that
notes were displaced either sooner or later th an their prescribed
notation. Inherent in this concept of rubato is the principle that
w hat was added in value to one note would be taken away from
another, so th at rhythmic displacement occurred only in the
melody and never in the overall tempo. In contrast to Tosi rubato,
syncopation rubato was used in fast as well as slow tempos.
Syncopation, according to Turk, was a means of accent used to
interrupt the uniformity of a even-motion melodic line by shifting
the normal placement of beats.33 Rousseau's definition of
"pathetic" stated th at the true pathetic is found in the passionate
accent of the melody rather than in the character, genus, mode or
harmony of the composition.34 It is from the melody that the
principal expression of the piece is drawn. According to Rousseau,
the French tendency was to use pathetic accent only in slow
tempos while the Italians used it in various tempos. Believing their
concept to be Italian-derived, north Germans also used pathetic
accent in a variety of tempos.
Since north German writers presented tempo rubato in precise
notation, never suggesting in their texts th a t their examples were
33TQik, School of Keyboard Playing. 327.

34 Rousseau. A Complete Dictionary of Music, trans. by W. Waring, 313-14.
30
31
mere approximations, one understands them to be true

presentations of their concept. This is in contrast to Tosi, who left
no notated examples of tempo rubato, and in contrast to Galliard,
who stated th at only experience and taste could teach tempo
rubato. (Perhaps, Leopold Mozart's remark should not be forgotten:
that tempo rubato is "more easily shown than described.") Boris
Brack accused the north Germans of having devised and
perpetuated a false notion of the Italian practice.35 It appears to
me, however, th at since Tosi's description of tempo rubato was
sufficiently abstract to have included a number of temporal
approaches to decorating a melodic line over a rhythmically steady
accompaniment, the Germans, having heard Italians demonstrating
it, could have hand-picked one aspect of it that was easiest to
describe, notate, teach and control in performance. Therefore,
perhaps their interpretation was not false, only limited. Probably in
the minds of the Germans, there was a need to conceptualize
tempo rubato in more concrete form th at could serve as an antidote
to the misunderstanding and maltreatment to which such a device
could be subjected. In the case of tempo rubato, the antidote that
the north Germans prescribed was syncopation rubato. In his
autobiographical sketch appearing in Marpurg's Historisch-
kritische Bevtrage (Berlin, 1754), for instance, Quantz recollected
having heard Italian singers as a youth. To his surprise, he found
that these singers only sparingly embellished their adagios. Later
on in the sketch, Quantz remembered that it was the Italian singer
Santini (also known as Santa Della or Signora Lotti) from whom he
heard tempo rubato demonstrated for the first time at the Dresden
Opera in 1719, thus four years before the publication of Tosi's
35Bruck in his dissertation 'Wandlungen des Begriffes," 13.
32
book.36 It seems most likely that what Quantz understood and

demonstrated about tempo rubato had its basis in Italian models.
Quantz. who probably was the originator of this concept of
tempo rubato, gave an example in his Versuch einer Anweisung die
Flote traversiere zu Spielen (Berlin, 1752) to demonstrate how
variations are made on simple intervals without contravening the
bass harmony. His model for a tempo rubato passage was given in
the chapter entitled "Of Extempore Variations on Simple Intervals."
Fig. 13. Quantz's Table VIII, fig. 4.
In the chapter entitled "On the Manner of Playing the Adagio,"

Quantz demonstrated how the same passage is converted by tempo
rubato, and recommended the manner in which it should be played.
Fig. 14. Quantz's Table. X fig. 4, e and f.
36 Johann Quantz, "Herm Johann Joachim Quantzens Lebenslauf von lhm selbst
entworfen"in Hlstorlsch-kritlsche Bevtrage zur Aufnahme der Muslk von Friedrich Wilhelm
Marpurg. Vol. I (Berlin: J . J . Schfltzens, 1754), 214. Quantz recollected: "Lottl was a very
powerful soprano with good Intonation and good trills, although her high notes gave her a
little trouble. Her adagio rendition was her forte. It was from her that I heard the so-called
tempo rubato for the first time.” In their books Tosi and Galliard praised Signora Lottl for
her artistry and the suavity of her voice (see Tosi, Opinion!. 65-66; and Galliard,
Observatlona 103-4).
33
These two examples are in a kind of tempo rubato.

which may give occasion for further reflection. In the
first example, the fourth against the bass is anticipated,
replacing the third, and in the second (example), the
ninth is held in place of the third and resolved to it. In
(e) E strong, F weak and crescendo, G and A in the same
way, C weak. In (f) E weak and crescendo to the dot, F
and G weak and crescendo, A and C weak.37
In his commentary of Tosi's passage on rubato, Agricola

explained th a t "tempo rubato actually m eans to take from a
prescribed note something of its value in order to add as much to
another note, and vice versa. "38 Annexed to this explanation is the
following example (fig. 15) which is essentially the same as th at of
Quantz.39
37 Johann J. Quantz, On Playing the Flute (Berlin, 1752) trans. by Edward Reilly (New York:
MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1975, 174). The original text reads: /Versuch elner
Anwelsung. 100): "Diese beyden Exempel sind eine Art vom Tempo rubatot welche zu
mehrerem Nachdenken Anlass geben KOnnen. Im ersten wird anstatt der Terze, die Quarte
gegen die Grundstimme vorausgenommen, und im zweyten, die None anstatt der Terze zurOck
gehalten, und in dleselbe aufgeliSset; Tab. VIII, Fig. 4. Bey (e), E starck, F schwach und
wachsend. G, A, auf gleiche Art C schwach. Bey (i), E schwach und bis an den Punct wachsend,
F, G schwach und wachsend. A, C schwach.”
38 Johann F. Agricola, Anleltung zur Slngkunst (1757) zusammen mlt dem ltalienischer
Original von Pier Francesco Tosi (1723) (Berlin, 1757). Facsimile ed. (Zurich: Hermann
MoeckVerlag, 1966, 219): "Die Notenveiziehen, f rubare il Tempo) heisst eigentlich einer
vorgeschriebenen Note etwas von ihrer Geltung abnehmen, um es einer andem zuzulegen, und
umgekehrt.”
39 Agricola's commentary (Anleltung, 235) to the description of strascino by Tosi
addresses arbitrary (extempore) variations in general and refers the reader to examples of
extempore variations in Quantz's Versuch.
34
Air------ * & --------

— z—r— 1
G------------- *---- ''^1“ I
— ---------
: ... t ::
\jrc r r ,1 -i~ = i - . r r ^
-£ 7 .- ’ r
—Tr
15^ ^ 3 |K 1 1
'[anHciparbton\
u / -j v ^r& ’h u n A a i’io r ^
t r J -1— l-r r f II 1 3:f(. f r ^ J I r= p ?

V" -r
Fig. 15. Agricola's example.
The slight differences in syncopation rubato which are encountered

among the north Germans are accounted for in the following
sentence by Agricola.
And this [sort of displacement] can be effected in various

ways by different kinds of notes, figures and rhythms.40
Both Kimberger and Schulz discussed the device of altering a

melody by rhythmic displacement as a compositional technique.
Although they did not designate this device tempo rubato, they did
recognize the improvisatory use of it. Kimberger discussed both
the compositional technique and improvisatory practice under the
headings anticipatio and retardio in his treatise Die Kunst des
reinen Satzes in der Musik (Berlin, 1771).41 Schulz described it
under the entries entitled Verruckung ("Displacement") and
Verzogerung ("Retardation") in Sulzer's Allgemeine Theorie der
schQnen Kunste (Leipzig, 1771-74).42 Turk cited Schulz's article
40Agrlcola, Anleltung, 220: "und dieses kann auf verschledene Art. bey verschledenen Arten
von Noten, Flguren und Tacten angebracht werden.”
41 Johann Kimberger, Die Kunst des reinen Satzes In der Muslk (Beriln: C. F. Voss. 1771).
35
('Verruckung") as one which gave a particularly thorough

treatm ent of the subject of rubato. Published nearly at the same
time, the discussions and notated examples of Kimberger and
Schulz are so strikingly similar th at it becomes evident th at their
efforts were collaborative.43 Their discussions are particularly
meaningful because they, of all the north Germans, most fully
explain the harmonic conditions th at m ust be fulfilled when the
technique is employed.
Chapter 11 of Kirnberger's treatise outlines two types of
melodic variation by embellished or florid simple counterpoint.
The first type of melodic embellishment is called counterpoint per
diminutionem ("counterpoint of diminution or division"). The
other type "theorists call anticipation or retardation of the melody,
which arises when notes enter other than would seem to be
required by the time divisions of the measure."44 Schulz, naming
this type of melodic activity Verruckung. described it as a type of
displacement th at "only takes place in the melody. One or more
tones, by anticipation or retardation, enter earlier or later than they
should."45 Syncopation occurs only in those two-voiced passages
42 Johann Schulz, 'VerrOckung" In Sulzer's Allgemelne Theorie der schOnen Kunste Vol. 2
(Leipzig: M. G. Weidemanns Eiben und Reich, 1771-74), 653-55; ’Verzflgerung", 683-85.
43 Schulz was one of Kirnberger's most accomplished pupils. Both Schulz and Kimberger
wrote the articles relating to music In Sulzer's encyclopedia. Additionally, Schulz, with
Kirnberger's approval, published an Appendix to the 1773 edition of Die Kunst entitled Die
wahren Grundsatze zum Gebrauch der Harmonic:
44 Johann Kimberger, The Art of Strict Musical Composition, trans. by David Beach et. al.
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), 208. Hie original text (Die Kunst des relnen Satzes
In der Muslk. 192) reads: "Die Tonlehrer nennen dieses das Zuvorkommen oder
ZurOckblelben des Gesangesftntlclpatlo und Retardatlol."
45 Johann A. P. Schulz. 'VerrOckung," In Sulzer's Allgemelne Theorie der schOnen Kunste
(Leipzig: Weidemanns Erben und Reich, 1771-74), 654:’Elne andere Art der VerrQkung, die
aber nur In der Melodle statt hat, 1st die, wenn eln oder mehrere Tflne durch Vorausnehmen
36
th at are consonant and progress homorhythmically. One can apply

displacement to such passages as the following of Kimberger (his
example 11.7)
£
Fig. 16. Kirnberger's example 11.7.
Kimberger stated that when syncopated counterpoint is employed

in passages, transformation of the character of the passage is
achieved through the change of harmony (from purely consonant to
alternatively consonant and dissonant) and through the change of
rhythmic motion (from even motion to staggered motion).
(0
f ' (p)J 'Y f l ’ J
' —*]--
.....J"|17*—
"! --
-- J L—J— ;14- k - i - i * j>
cu t
" J f f - f -- 1— f - p—- r * ZiL <
i i-[— l i =Jt IE
Fig. 17. Kirnberger's example 11.8.
Kimberger and Schulz both indicated the extemporaneous use

of syncopation as a means of varying certain musical passages in
cautionary footnotes to the example above. Their notes also explain
the connection between the compositional technique and the
performance practice. Although the following note is by
Kimberger, Schulz’s is strikingly similar.
oder VerzOgerung Pintlclpatlo* RetardatloV
37
When each of the two voices progresses in seconds but

the two are separated by a third, as here (see Fig. 16],
syncopation can very easily be employed by the singer,
even when it is not indicated by the composer. However,
the voice part m ust not be accompanied by flutes or
violins playing with it in unison. These would progress
simultaneously with the bass, and the singer would then
be blamed for hurrying or falling behind. A singer who
wants to make such alterations m ust look carefully at
the score so as not to make the changes at the wrong time
or contrary to the nature of the accompaniment.46
The rest of Kirnberger's discussion (and to a lesser extent,

Schulz’s) carefully explained the harmonic rules which m ust be
observed when syncopated counterpoint is applied to the melody of
a two-voiced passage so th at the passage would not lose its
euphonious quality and become disagreeable.
The following excerpt from an aria by Handel (Fig. 18) is
reproduced in Kirnberger's book. The upper staff is Handel's
original melody which, in this context, Kimberger used to show the
embellishment of a simple melody. The middle staff presents the
melody of the aria simplified by Kimberger in order to instruct the
student in how to construct simple melody and harmony in arias,
particularly in adagios. Kimberger stated th at the advantage of this
kind of simple construction lies in the freedom which it gave the
singer "to add his embellishments at will and to anticipate and
retard as he pleases".47
46 Kimberger, The Art of Strict Musical Composition r 230 and Schulz, ’VeizOgerung," 684-
85. Also, explicit In Schulz's entry 'VeizOgerung' Is the allowance for the performer's use of
rhythmic alteration: "In music. It occasionally happens that a voice states Its notes sooner or
later than the melodic progression or meter requires. In so' far as this deliberately happens In
order to aid the expression, it is classified as artifices known by the Latin terms Retardlo and
Antjcjpat)o."
38
Benehe mi sorezzi I'ldol ch'odoro 8c.

i T J il, a ^ , j ^ \ . ijp j
A i
1 =1...... ■■ 1 1 . = ' T = = = q ----------1------ *------
V .... ^ p a " ■ ---- J ------f------
6 A
M 4 m
J ------ di
--------- ■ ■■ ji—
-----
V ■ I- 1
- j N X J
(
jN * r J = ----------------- *—
■J ■" ‘ J 1= 5 —^ |
6 I 6 « , 4 1.i
r * .......... *--------- 9
Fig. 18. Kirnberger's example of a Handel aria.
Tempo rubato as expressive accent was emphasized in Johann

Adam Hiller's description.
Syncopated passages, whether in anticipation of the

following [note] or in delaying the preceding note,
have the characteristic th at the note which enters
between the beats is always more strongly marked
and sustained. But the note has to be held so firmly
th at one does not hear two notes for one on the same
tone [Fig. 19]. Tempo rubato, as the Italians call it,
is nothing other than one such anticipation or retarda-
ation of the note from one part of the beat to the other.
One robs of a note something of its duration in order
to give it to another. It is very useful for variation in
performance and for emphasis, and one finds it not only
in musical passages b ut also in speech. But the singer,
47 Kimberger. The Art of Strict Musical Composition P 234-35.
39
when he applies it in musical passages, m ust sufficiently

keep the beat so as not to come to the end earlier or
later than he should.48
TO
Fig. 19. Hiller's example.
Drawing upon Agricola as his source, Hiller explained still another

feature of syncopation rubato: th at tempo rubato is more
characteristically constituted by an equal exchange of notes that are
rhythmically displaced than by the addition or subtraction of notes.
Variations can be made in three ways: first, when more

notes are added to fewer notes; second, when one converts
more notes into fewer notes; finally, when a certain number
of notes are exchanged with so many others. To this last
m anner can also be added a mere displacement of time with
the same notes [Fig. 201.49
48 Johann Hiller, Anweisung zum muslkalisch-rlchtlgen Gesanffe (Leipzig: Johann
Friedrich Junius, 1774), 88-89: "Die syncopirenden Passaglen, sie mflgen nun in der
Vorausnahme der folgenden, oder dem Aufhalten der vorhergehenden Note bestehen, haben
das eigene, dass tam er die Note, die zwischen den Tacttheilen elntritt, etwas starker
angegeben als nachgehalten wird; doch muss der Ton so fest gehalten werden, dass man nicht
zwo Noten fOr eine auf demselben Tone zu hfiren bekommt Das tempo rubatafwie es die
Italiflner nennen, 1st nichts anderes als ein soiches Vorausnehmen oder VeizOgem des Tons
von einem Tacttheile auf den andem. Man stiehlt glelchsam dem einen Tone etwas von
seiner Zeit, um es dem andem zu geben. Zur Abanderung des Vortrags, auch zu mehrerm
Nachdrucke, 1st es sehr dienlich, und flndet nicht allein in Passaglen, sondem auch im
Sprechen der Worte statt. Nur muss der Sanger, wenn er es in einer Stelle anbringt, genau auf
den Tact merken, damlt er nicht frflher oder spater damit zu Ende kommt.”
49 Hiller, Anweisung. 129: ’Veranderungen kfinnen auf dreyerley Art gemacht werden:
einmal, wenn zu wenigen Noten mehrere hinzugesetzt werden: zweytens, wenn man mehrere
in wenigere verwandelt; endlich, wenn eine gewisse Anzahl Noten mit eben soviel andem
Fig. 20. Hiller’s example.
Likewise, Daniel Gottlob Turk observed in his Klavierschule

(1789):
Variations are possible in a number of ways (see Fig. 21],

Namely, one adds still more notes to those given as in (al
(this happens most of the time b u t it is not always appro
priate), or one changes the given figures into others
which have the same number of tones (b). Further, the
number of notes is a t times reduced (s), although this
does not customarily occur very often in compositions
for the keyboard. It is also possible to vaiy by displacing
the notes, as when some are lengthened and others
shortened (d).26 There are additional ways of varying,
vertauscht wird. Zu dleser letzten Art kann auch gerechnet werden. wenn mit eben denselben
Noten eine blosse VerrOckung des Zeltmaasses(tempo rubatd vorgenommen wird."
In hisAnleltung zur Slnekunst (235), Agricola similarly wrote: "Following the rules of
harmony, one either adds more notes to fewer notes, or converts more notes into fewer notes
or exchanges a certain number of notes with so many others. That this should not at all
displace or change the overall tempo goes without saying.”
41
for example, by alternating loud and soft, by slurring,

by detaching the notes, by sustaining them (tragen der
Tone), and the like.50
Turk's footnote to this passage comments: "This displacement of

notes or beats, particularly in the second example of (d), will be
discussed in the following chapter under the heading of tempo
rubato."51
50T0rk, School of Keyboard Plavlng. 311-12. The original text fKlavierschule. 323-24)
reads: "Die Veranderungen sind auf verschledene Art mflglich. Man setzt nSmlich zu den
vorgeschricbenen Noten noch mehrere hinzu, wie bey a), (dies geschieht am h&uflgsten, aber
nicht immer zweckmdssig,) oder man ver&ndert die vorgeschriebene Figur in eine andere, die
aus eben so vielen Noten besteht b). Femer wird zuweilen die Anzahl der Noten vermindert c);
wlewohl dies letztere in TonstQcken, welche far das Klavler bestimmt sind, selten zu
geschehen pflegt. Auch ver&ndert man durch das so genannte Verrucken* der Noten, wenn
ndmlich elnige verl&ngert, andere dagegen verkOizt werden d). Ausserdem giebt es noch
mancherley andere Mittel zum Ver&ndem z.B. abwechselnde St&rke und Schw&che,
Schleifen, Abstossen, Tragen der TOne
u.dgLm."
51 TOik. School of Keyboard Plaving. 312. The original text fKlavierschule. 374) reads: "Dies
Verrfkcken der Noten oder Takttheile u. besonders in dem zweyten Beyspiele d), wird in dem
folgenden Kapitel auch unter dem AusdruckeTempo rubato voikommen" (323). TOrk's
definition of tempo rubato reads very much the same as other north Germans: 'The so-called
Tempo rubato or robato factually stolen time! I have specified in #63 as the third resource
whose application should be left to the sensitivity and insight of the player. This term
appears with more than one meaning. Commonly it is understood as a kind of shortening or
lenghtening of notes, or the displacement (dislocation) of notes. These is something taken
away (stolen) from the duration of a note and for this, another note is given than much more,
as in the following examples b and c." The other meanings that TQrk gives to tempo rubato
will be encountered in the categoiy of metric rubato.
42
Variation*
✓T
i (M
m
fc)
2ZX
-f— j- • +- £j jgi L i i=3
g .- ^ f f lf r
CO
i
Cc)
jiii ZX
H-*
ft f
t L L i s x g i. g m
Ld) (/) C-0
j r r i L f McJ 1
Fig. 21. Turk's examples.
In a fuller explanation which essentially reproduced previous north

German writers, Turk added the requirement that, during the
course of melodic displacement, the melody and bass should
coincide on the downbeat as a controlling device against rhythmic
waywardness. :52
Even when more notes are added to the melody, as in the

examples £ and f [my Fig. 22], both voices m ust
nevertheless correctly coincide each time at the beginning
of the measure. In this case then there results no actual
displacement of the tempo.53
52 For TOrk's full discussion of tempo rubato, see the Appendix.
53TQrk. School of Keyboard Piavlng. 363. The original text reads fKlavierschule. 375):
"Sogar wenn in der Melodle mehrere Noten hinzu gesetzt werden. wie in den folgenden
43
03L) j Cb) • : >

-----; — v — ' - *j i 1-----
---A— ---- ------ i----
4 —3
'• * *
» r r r i r r 7 ".r r r f - r ■
(fi)
... - f T T " B— : :
--------—---------- ------------ --—
•f
---*
7
--- ..
M ' —
*
f 3^ r r
Fig. 22. Turk’s examples.
Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg was the first among the north

German writers to classify tempo rubato as a compositional device.
Although he also represented tempo rubato by a syncopated
melodic line, some differences in his concept and examples reveal
his independence from his contemporaries, at least, in the earlier
editions of his treatises. First of all, Marpurg only used the term
tempo rubato in Principes du clavecin (Berlin, 1756) which is his
own translation and expansion of his Anleitung zum Clavierspielen
(Berlin, 1755).54 He never used the term tempo rubato in his
German publications. Instead, Marpurg used the terms Trennen.
Verbiessen and Tonverbeissung to designate tempo rubato in his
1755 publication and in a later treatise entitled Anleitung zur
Musik uberhaupt und zur Singkunst besonders (Berlin, 1763). This
Beyspielen e) und i). mflssen doch jederzeit beym Anfanges des Taktes beyde Stlmmen wieder
rlchtlg zusammen treffen. Es entsteht also auch in dlesem Falle kein wirkliches VerrOcken
des Zeitmasses."
54 Friedrich W. Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen (Berlin: A. Haude and J. C. Spener,
1755): Principes du Clavecin (Berlin: A. Haude and J. C. Spener, 1756): and Anleitung zur
Musik Oberhaupt und zur Singkunst besonders. mlt uebungsexemoeln erlautert (Berlin: A.
Wever, 1763).
44
fastidious use of terms suggests either Marpurg's insecurity with

the term tempo rubato as a compositional device or his desire to
make certain th at his French readers would understand his
meaning. Second, Marpurg’s representation of tempo rubato as a
syncopated melodic line contained rests which in his
representation were essential details for the realization of his
concept of rubato. Third, Marpurg's concept was most likely
influenced by eighteenth-centuiy French harpsichord playing for
which he had a predilection, in contrast to other north Germans
(e.g. Quantz and Agricola) who were pro-Italian.
Marpurg defined tempo rubato as "what the Italians call various
m anners of anticipating notes."55
Tempo rubato is the opposite of Detachment,56 and con

sists of sounding [only] the last half of a note which has
been divided into two other (jriotes] on the same degree.
Tab. II, fig. 42 [my Fig. 23]. Some composers are in
the habit of using the sign in fig. 49 [my Fig. 24] instead
of a rest in order to represent the tempo rubato (le terns
derobe) of a note. But the first manner [i.e. using rests] is
preferable especially since the symbols should not be
multiplied without necessity, there being enough of them
already.57
55 Marpurg. Anleitung zum Clavierspielen. index.
56 Marpurg's meaning of "detachment" fDetachfeor AbkOrzenl Is not related to articulation
but Is the sounding of the first half of a note which has been divided into two other notes on
the same degree (see my Fig. 23).
57 Elizabeth Hays, "F. W. Marpurg's Anleitung zum Claviersplelen (Berlin, 1755) and
Principes du Clavecin (Berlin, 1756): Translation and Commentary." Ph.D. diss., Stanford
University, 1976, [pages] DC 13-16. Marpurg's original text reads (Principes. 52): "Tempo
rubato. c’est le contralre du D6tach6 & conslste A ne faire sonner que la demifere moltfe d’une
note partagge en deux en meme dggrg. Tab. II, fig. 42. Quelques compositeurs sont dans
l'nabitude d'emplcyer A place de la pause le signe qu'on volt A la fig. 49 pour marauerle tempo
rubato fle terns dferobg) d’une note. Mais la premiere manfere est preferable A l'autre, d'autant
45
tt&mjoo -rtAJratio
T "* "l 1
w f 1 J X ....- L - l 1
..
T F 1
Fig. 23. Marpurg's Table II, fig. 42.
• j ~x * -r '-ry e ■>f r \
r f ~ 7 f^r r /
IftT t 1
The sign A which Marpurg exhibited in fig. 24 was known to

eighteenth-century French clavecinistes as an ornament called
suspension: thus, Marpurg's discussion of tempo rubato under the
general rubric "Ornaments." Francois Couperin claimed the
invention of this sign. As an expressive ornament, the suspension
was executed by slightly delaying (suspending) a note as in the
following example from the table of ornaments of Couperin and
Rameau (Fig. 25). first book of Pieces de Clavecin (Paris, 1713).
Rameau gives a similar example in the table of ornaments to his
Pieces de Clavecin (Paris, 1724).
plus qu'll ne faut pas multiplier les signes sans nfectesltfe. Uy en a d€Ja sans cela."
46
Fig. 25. The suspension ornament.
Couperin explained in his harpsichord treatise that this ornament

produced the effect of leaving the ear in suspense "in such a way
that, in those places where bowed instrum ents would increase
their tone, the suspension at the harpsichord, by a contrary effect,
seems to produce this desired effect."58 The use of this ornament
was limited to slow and tender pieces, the length of the delay
before the attack of the note being regulated by the good taste of
the executant.
In addition to discussing its compositional aspect of tempo
rubato, Marpurg demonstrated the manner in which tempo rubato
could be extemporaneously used.
Anticipation: when one sounds a note in advance as the

last part of the preceding note. See Tab. II, fig. 45 [my
fig. 26]. This is made by an irregular syncopation;
fig. 46 by regular syncopation [my fig. 27]. In execu
tion, one sometimes skips the first of the two notes
in the m anner of Tempo rubato. Fig. 50 [my fig. 27].59
58 Couperin. The Art of Plavlng the Harpsichord. 33-34.

59 Hays, "F.W. Marpurg's Anleitung zum ClaviersDlelen and Principes du Clavecin, [page] IX-
16. The original text iPrincipes. 53) reads: "Anticipation, c'est quand on fait entendre
d'avance une note suivante sur le dernier terns de la note pr£c6dente. A la Tab. II. fig. 45. Cela
se fait par une syncope irr£gulari6re & fig. 46 par une syncope r£guli£re. Remarques: En
executant on passe quelquefois la premlire des deux notes au moyen du Tempo rubato. fig. 50."
47
Dro Jfr-
1a r \ U m i i r f ^
irregu lar Sjf/KCjxriioA- yeyuCiy synCopcido/i,

■>rO SO
m
The following examples of melodic displacements in Anleitung

zur Musik. . . (1763) show a reconciliation of Marpurg and his
colleagues' rubato practices (Fig. 28):
Fig. 28a. Marpurg. Vorausnehmen (Anticipation)

''instead of
j £ f g
r r r t f r *
28b. Marpurg. Auflialten (Retardation)
' > sh ca j o T j
J J
P S
f T r r
28c. Marpurg. Tonverbeissung (Truncation or Suppression)60
__________ instead »f
I '/ if r
Another description of tempo rubato by a north German was

furnished by Christian Schubart who, conceiving tempo rubato as an
60 Marpurg, Anleitung zur Musik, 150. Ernst Wilhlem Wolf classified Tonverbeissung as
Ellipsis Das Auslassen der TOne "The Omission of Notes") rather than as tempo rubato In
Muslkallsches Unterrichtj VoL 1.38.
48
expressive nuance, suitably lent it to romantic expression in this

metaphoric statement.
Tempo rubato where the execution does not want to

go and yet does; this tender delaying of a lover who,
nevertheless, wishes to leave his sweetheart.61
E rnst Wilhelm Wolf managed to describe tempo rubato without

merely imitating other north German writers in the preface to Eine
Sonatine. Vier affectvolle Sonaten und Ein drevzehmal variirtes
Thema furs Klavier (1785)62 and in his two-volume treatise
Musikalisches Unterricht (1788).63 Wolf equated tempo rubato
with syncopation and recommended its use in allegros and
particularly in adagios. After giving a melodic model (Fig. 29a), Wolf
gave two examples of syncopation rubato in which notes of a melody
are displaced by anticipation and retardation (Fig. 29b and 29c).
According to Wolf, tempo rubato also constituted adding (in either
composition or improvisation) uneven rhythms to a melodic line for
more florid realization (Fig. 29c).
61 Written In 1784-85 and posthumously published In 1806. Ludwig Albrecht Schubart, ed.
Christian F.D. Schubarts Ideen zu elner Asthetlk der Tonkunst (Vienna: J. V. Degen, 1806),
367: 'Das Tempo rubato. wo der Vortrag nicht fort will, und doch fort geht,--dles zdrtliche
Zfigem eines Liebhabers, der eben von selnem Mfidchen gehen will."
62 Ellen Llgon, "An Edition of Ernst Wilhelm Wolfffl’s, Eine Sonatine. Vler affectvolle
Sonaten und Eln drevzehnmal variirtes Thema fOrs Klavier , M.A. thesis, Cornell University,
1969, 58. See the Appendix for Wolfs discussion and Ligon's translation.
63 Ernst W. Wolf, Musikalisches Unterricht, 2 vols (Dresden: Hilscherschen Musikverlage,
1788), Vol. I, 34-35; musical examples In Vol. II, 28-29. Wolfs text reads: 'Tonverzlehung
ffempo rubato). This device consists in both the anticipation and retardation of notes. It Is
used for the most part in composition. Only skillful virtuosos, singers and players
successfully realize it in performance. The notes of the chords laying in the bass
accompaniment are set only In notes of equal value." For the rest of the discussion, see the
appendix.
49
J :. — ^ b=
------ — — o ---
l r trT - B ._ a
z%
-r p— r 1-------------
~ r ~ 7 ~ ‘L----- T P r - i 11 11
—
/ --------1M
— - h i — J . —J ■* J — — -4 - — z ----- J - r - e -
-p -
? ..............
( —L, Y
.....— 1-------
-
----------- el—
I # - mZ? J |}H■ ' l
------------------ 1 o 11
r f — h — :— r - r r r - ' - r t "
^ -9 r ■. *— + - — ©----h —
A lle q r o cAorgfid bj -fripleds
j i t n - r ---------- — } in - f ---------------------- J-------
J —L t—1-----d— J — £— -------t;------ /
— &---- — ©—
Fig. 29. E. W. Wolfs examples.
The north German concept of tempo rubato can be summarized

as a special manner of exchanging a given number of melodic notes
for an equal number of notes rhythmically dislocated by means of
anticipation and retardation. In other words, syncopation or
pathetic accent was applied to a melodic phrase (usually consisting
of rising or falling seconds) and was used to effect melodic
transformation through the change of harmonic and rhythmic
motion. The model which the writers used to demonstrate tempo
rubato usually was a melody with simple intervals (e.g. rising or
falling seconds) progressing by quarter notes in a homorhythmic
texture, although melodic alteration was effected in various ways,
figures and rhythms. Syncopation rubato was advocated both as a
50
compositional device and an improvisatory practice in allegro and

adagio tempos. It was rendered into precise notation and subjected
to rules of harmony. Restitution of the displaced voices occurred
either on each downbeat of a meter or on the final chord of a
cadence. Curiously, the north Germans rarely stated th at the bass
should move exactly in time probably because their presentation of
rubato in precise notation rendered this precept moot.
It m ust be remembered th at Tosi did not coin the expression
"tempo rubato," but, rather, he formulated the concept of "il
rubamento di Tempo." It is in Quantz’s description th at the term
"tempo rubato" seemed to have been used for the first time in
writing. Somewhere between Tosi's and Quantz’s description,
"tempo rubato" was not only coined as a musical expression b u t had
become a specific manner of application which the north Germans
held as "Italian." Aside from Tosi's words, there are no other
remains of w hat the Italians conceptualized about tempo rubato.
The silence on the part of the Italians is puzzling. One can only
conjecture that, perhaps too busy dominating the European musical
scene, the Italians left such discussion to others. Or, more likely,
the Italians, true to the notion of melodic freedom, conceived
rubato more as a quality or a condition of being rather than a device
and, therefore, felt no need to describe and, particularly, to notate
something so delicate and subtle. Or, perhaps, like families of fine
instrum ent makers, the Italians could have sworn themselves to
silence as if protecting a national treasure or secret. In other
words, the Italians would not, could not or did not permit
themselves to discuss this aspect of performance. One of the chief
treatises of the latter half of the eighteenth-century, Mancini's
Riflessioni pratiche sul canto figurato (Vienna, 1774) did not
51
provide a description of tempo rubato.64 Even as late as 1791,

Galeazzi's encyclopedic treatise offered only a short statem ent
which equated rubato with syncopation and contrattempo (i.e.
staggered rhythmic motion). The following example accompanied
his statement.65
_ j 0----------- J ^9 IIII
r\ /f " ,H, - a - r ..> / o* T r—.. ------1
|
tIrO i l -------------------
Fig. 30. Galeazzi’s example.
Leon Plantinga, in his biography of Clementi, pointed out that

syncopated rubato was a commonplace in variation technique in the
latter half of the eighteenth century, particularly in the so-called
minore variation of a set and was employed in sonatas and rondos as
well.66 A fine example of syncopated rubato technique in a passage
64 Giambattista Mancini, Practical Reflections on Figured Singing (Vienna, 1774), trans. by
Edward Foreman (Champaign. 111.: Pro Musica Press, 1967), 8. Manclni's only reference to
tempo rubato occurs in this sentence: "Antonio Past of Bologna, likewise a scholar of
Bemacchi. was celebrated for his skillful singing, and for a completely unusual taste, through
the union of a solid portamento with the spinning out of the voice, and he introduced a
solidity (mlsto di granito) composed of gracious gruppetti, mordents and tempi rubatl, all
done to perfection and in their appropriate places, the whole making an individual and
arresting style."
65 Francesco Galeazzi. Element! Teorlco-Praticl di Musica Vol. 1 (Rome: Pilucchi Cracas,
1791-96), 200: ”E‘ leclto nel diminulre il rubbate un po' di valore da una nota, e trasferirlo ad
un' altra, anzi ft artiflcio lode vole (purchft non se ne faccia abuso) il fare certe flirature di
tempo, purchft alia fine il tutto si rimetta, e si pareggi al giusto valore: cI6 dices! da' pratici
Slnconare. o suonare a Contrattempo. ed ft una delle piu belle rlsorse dell' espresslone
(usandone sempre con moderazione (Esemplo 31. Tav: VIII).''
66 Leon Plantinga, Clementi: His Life and Music (London: Oxford Univ. Press. 1977), 90-91.
Plantinga cites these example of syncopation rubato technique in variation, sonata and
rondo movements: Haydn's Andante con variazioni; dementi's Sonata Op. 7/1 (Mesto) and
Rondo Op. 9/2: and, Beethoven's "Appassionata" Sonata op. 57 (second mvt).
52
expressive of tenderness is found in the recapitulation of the first

movement of Haydn's Sonata in C (Hob. XIV: 50).
Ex. 4. Allegro 4 /4 from Haydn’s Sonata in C

(bars 120-124).
Wolfgang Mozart also used syncopation rubato as a compositional

device, adding subtle rhythmic inflections peculiar to his own
personal taste. Eva and Paul Badura-Skoda, in their book
Interpreting Mozart on the Keyboard, give examples of written-out
rubato in Mozart's keyboard compositions.67 One such passage is
found in the Adagio of the C Minor Sonata K. 457 where the
original melody has been manipulated by prolongation (Ex. 5).
JL + i7
t : - r "*..-■ ' ■f H-
—
-r
f> C rate,, f
mt= ± 111"$ P
l>M
M
-r—
Ex. 5 Mozart’s original passage Altered by syncopation

(bar 5) (bar 19)
Rondo Op. 9/2; and, Beethoven's "Appassionata" Sonata op. 57 (second mvt).
67 Eva and Paul Badura-Skoda. Interpreting Mozart on the Keyboard, trans. by Leo Black
(New York; Da Capo Press, 1986), 40-46.
53
The first edition of the F Major Sonata K. 332 (K. 300i),68

published in Mozart’s lifetime, printed an embellished version of
the Adagio movement, which features a similar passage altered by
syncopation in the manner advocated by the north Germans (ex. 6).
The analogous passage in its unaltered form occurs five bars earlier
(ex. 7).
a s
*
EE
T
& p f s p
IRVsP
i
Ex. 6. Adagio 4 /4 from Mozart's
Sonata in F (bar 35)
Ex. 7. Mozart. The original passage (bar 30).
68 W. A. Mozart, Sonata InF Major K. 332 (K. 3001) (Vienna: Artarla, 1784). The first edition
of this sonata by Artarla presents significant textual variants of the autograph. Editors
Wolfgang Plath and Wolfgang Rehm attribute these variants to Mozart himself as "a revision
of the original version of the sonata expressly for print," see the prefatoiy notes to the New
Mozart Edition Mozart of The Plano Sonatas Vol. II (Kassel: B&renreiter. 1986), v.
54
The following passages from the Rondo in A Minor K. 511

demonstrate the ingenuity with which Mozart used syncopation
rubato as a compositional device. Observe the original melody (ex.
8) accompanied by the two decorated versions (ex. 9 and 10).
e re seen
Ex. 8. Mozart, Rondo in A Minor (bars 5-8).

Andante 6 /8
SJ,
M
crescendo I'." "■••K S
i , , i i I , - -------------
i i i 1 7
Ex. 9. Mozart, Rondo in A Minor (bars 85-88).
1S6 CO,
crescendo
Ex. 1C. Mozart, Rondo in A Minor (bars 156-158).
Naturally, the question arises "Can a distinction be made between

syncopation (pure and simple) and syncopation rubato?" Although
55
the sources themselves do not clearly make this distinction, one

can be inferred from their basic conception of tempo rubato and
from their use of the terminology "syncopation" and "tempo rubato".
Although the two share the fundamental property of displacement,
tempo rubato was considered a means of varying a simple passage
th a t was previously heard in a non-syncopated version. In other
words, it was the technique of heightening expression by applying
syncopation (pure and simple) to a passage which a listener would
have remembered in its unembellished form.69 Part of the charm
of an eighteenth-centuiy performance was the skill with which
performers used embellishing techniques and the delight with
which listeners responded in their recognition of these devices of
heightened expression. The psychological expectation of the
eighteenth-century performer and listener would be different when
encountering a passage with syncopation rubato as opposed to one
with regular syncopation. That is, syncopation rubato is something
simple and straightforward momentarily gone awry or become
disturbed due to a sudden change of affect only to be restored to
normalcy. Further, syncopation is rendered precise in notation and
performance, whereas, syncopation rubato, being more disordered
or extreme in affect, is rendered, more or less, approximately in
notation, and the performer should not be mathematical in his
execution. After all, it m ust be remembered th at tempo rubato of
whatever sort is an element of freedom, albeit, within narrow
limits. For example, the last movement of the Mozart's Wind
Serenade K. 388 (384a) is a set of variations whose melody is varied
by syncopation in the third variation (bars 48-64).70 One can call
69Quantz stated In his Versuch that variations should be undertaken "only after the plain
air had already been heard, otherwise the listener would not know if variations were actually
presented" <On Plavlng the Flute. 139).
56
this tempo rubato (syncopation rubato). On the other hand, a

movement such as the Corrente in J. S. Bach's Sixth Partita in E
Minor, BWV 830,71 which is syncopated in its entirety, does not
qualify as syncopation rubato since, in this case, syncopation is not
being applied to a particular melodic passage as a variational
technique.
Early nineteeth-century manifestations of syncopation rubato
appearing in the method books of Louis Adam, Francesco Pollini
and Pierre Baillot demonstrate th at the north German concept of
tempo rubato was well-established by the early nineteenth century
in such important musical centers as Paris and Milan.
Closely resembling Marpurg's notion of a syncopated melodic
line with rests is one advocated by Louis Adam in his Methode de
piano du_conservatoire (Paris, 1805).72 Although Adam does not
use the term tempo rubato, his execution consists of suspending or
retarding notes with expressive rests, as suggested by Couperin's
ornament of suspension (see p. 44). Adam calls this type of
execution les retards de notes and it is signified by the articulation
sign variously known as portato. appoggiato and tragen der Tone.
This alteration improves the singing quality of the melody by
making each note almost imperceptibly late against the bass.
Because it is listed as a third type of detachment (i.e., staccato),
Adam most likely thought of it more or less as a m atter of
articulation.
70 W. A Mozart, Serenade in C Minor for Wind Instruments K. 388 (K. 384a) (Vienna: Artarla,
1782).
71 J. S. Bach. Partita No. 6 in E minor BWV 830 (Leipzig, 1731).
72 Louis Adam, Mfethode de piano du conservatoire (Paris. 1805), 156.
Fig. 31. Adam's example of les retard de notes
(i.e. a kind of detachment).
The accompanying text to this example reads:
One m ust not jab at the key, ju st lift the finger.

This manner of detaching adds very much to the
expression of the melody and is sometimes made
with a little retard on the note which is being thus
expressed.73
Francesco Pollini equally recommended executing cantabile

phrases in the same manner in his Metodo per clavicembalo (Milan,
1810).74 Pollini cited Adam as the basis for his discussion on
articulation.
73 Louis Adam, Methode de Plana 156: "On ne dolt nullement plauerla touche, mals
seulement lever le doigt; cette manidre de detacher ajoute beaucoup a l'expression du chant, et
se fait quelquefois avec un petit retard de la note qu'on veut exprimer ainsi."
74 Ftancesco Pollini, Metodo per clavicembalo (Milan: G. Rlcordl, 1810), 63.
58
Written thus:
Played thus:
Fig. 32. Pollini's example of detachment.
Pierre Baillot in L’Art du violin: Novelle methode (Paris, 1834)

defined tempo rubato as a manner of syncopation or expressive
accent which characterizes trouble and agitation, thus, its name
tempo rubato or disturbato. temps derobe or trouble.75 Baillot
stated th at this device can only be notated to a certain extent and
in performance it m ust not be executed "cold-heartedly."
Additionally he stated th at although few composers notate or
indicate rubato, the character of a passage in general suffices to
urge the performer to improvise it upon the moment of inspiration.
Quoting an adage th at "Often a beautiful disorder is an artistic
effect," Baillot nonetheless cautioned performers not to overindulge
themselves in this highly effective device which could become
tiresome and unbearable through over-use. In the first example
(Fig. 33), tempo rubato does not consist so much in the syncopation
of the melody as in: (1) the accent which m ust be applied to the
syncopated ascending arpeggios (bars 1-2); (2) the improvised
75 Pierre Baillot, L'Art du vlolon. Nouvelle methode (Paris: D6pdt central de la musique.
1834), 136-17. See the Appendix for the original text and translation of Baillot's discussion.
notes of bars 3, 5, 13 and 15; and (3) the Interspersed rests (bar 7)
which give the passage its troubled character. These rests are
reminiscent of Marpurg’s first notion of tempo rubato (compare
with fig. 23). Baillot's second example (fig. 34) indicates that
tempo rubato was not merely confined to adagio or cantabile
passages b u t was applied even to passages in quick tempo where
trouble or agitation was suggested. Baillot offered this example as a
demonstration of the way the theme could be rendered the last
time it was encountered in this rondo.
Fig. 33. Baillot's examples.

Written thus:
(/')'**' C on c4*~ fo e f V lo W -0
'fthes&sa_____________ __ '—
- p i - r . . = T / t v i . - f
7-y. f |------u
i n . u --- U-------------- :---------------------- i------j— 5 = k ------
..................... Hi f 1 : avU ; r 1' -<'■ V t / * T 7 r - ■ r 1---------------

> U 1 1/ 1 n i-----V | ✓ j — |-----j —J ~ \ ---------------
■=— :— 1--------- e - . - f — i— --------------------------- n

— — , . )>- r . e f — -------------
f » j r * j "y ,— r
j y - ^ ^ i ' i * y-rU - f f -> - J L J . . j .
^ >
Played thus;
t e F „ T . < V T r — 1" .—
/ f t ) }----- 1^4
^ 'J "
’ f > <. * *
T *■ <■ *• J> I - * 's s ........
r* w "" 1 r
' v y r 1 y f -rr T . Ir I f " {-v» - 3 T -----P= f •
(il’ytfac. - f
- ’- v r r -------------> e- r
^ « i r * ^ 1 C- r . y ' -r . - 'v
tv ? - — 1v _ D L- u ‘ u
> > -> s — := » z t
60
Fig. 34. Baillot's examples.

Written thus:
f T f-f^ r rr-rr^r $
C u^c, _ _
Played thus:
(/S ^ C oncerto o f ViffHi)

t i*1' < c f c / r t i £
7* —7 7 - f
—— 1 * n rT 7 ^ '7 7 1 3 -* r t
—S i m " ft* /
L-j »«"*----*
“ *■^3— + : = = - t h 0 Si— . — . A
r—*■ ■ \r •
kbJ h g f n f r fr tr # ] fT T T rrm i
- W. j.:-« - 0
~ ~
,_
METRIC RUBATO
The aesthetic of metric rubato is the heightening of expression

through the surprise and excitement th a t momentary accentuation
of weak beats causes. Upon analysis, the fundamental property of
metric rubato is found to be essentially the same as syncopation
rubato if one understands that, in a series of syncopated notes, the
weak beats get emphasized. Metric rubato was not a replacement
of syncopation rubato b ut a larger rhythmical organization of it.
With syncopation rubato, deviation from the normal appearance of
the melody occurs; with metric rubato, one or more (or all) parts
deviate from the normal pulsation of the meter. Therefore, one can
say th at a development of the concept of tempo rubato occurred in
north Germany. Unlike syncopation rubato, application of metric
rubato did not require any previous statement of the melody in a
non-displaced (unomamented) form or, rather, the prevailing
metric structure was the unomamented form. Whereas,
syncopation rubato belonged to the free, vocal ornamentation
tradition (melodic alteration) and was used in improvisation in slow
or cantabile passages, metric rubato belonged foremost to
instrum ental practice and was employed as a compositional device
in lively tempos. The natural setting for employing syncopation
rubato was a homophonic texture b u t with metric rubato
contrapuntal textures were also suitable. Boris Brack maintained
th a t the new meaning of tempo rubato began around the 1770's and
was firmly established by the first quarter of the nineteenth
century. Brack also suggested that this new meaning reflected a
rising supremacy of instrumental over vocal music.76 As metric
61
62
rubato was utilized as a compositional device, it appears that

composers were gaining greater control over former improvisatory
aspects of music-making.
Metric rubato was effected in several ways: (1) in a vocal part,
by the displacement of the notes so th at one poetic meter is
exchanged for another (e.g., from trochaic to iambic); (2) in the
accompaniment of a vocal part, by the "wrong" accentuation of the
meter; (3) by the simultaneous displacement of both melody and
accompaniment which contradicts the meter; (4) by the
superimposition of one meter on another (hemiola); and, (5) by the
shift of melodic material from one p art of the bar to another in a
contrapuntal piece.
Boris Bruck has pointed out th at although Turk was first to
formulate the new (additional) meaning of tempo rubato in his
treatise (1789), it was already found in Johann Friedrich Reichardt
(1774) and Georg Friedrich Wolf (1787). Both Reichardt and Wolf
described tempo rubato as the binding of notes in such a way that
the weak note deprives the strong one of its accent. Reichardt
wrote in a letter of his travels:
What gave today's performance a special charm was

the singing of Madame Benda of Potsdam. . . . With the
words th at conclude the third recitative [of Graun's
cantata "Der Tod Jesu"] where it is said of Peter that
"er weinet bitterlich" [he weeps bitterly], she used
the so-called tempo rubato, th at is, she gave a strong
accent to a note which ordinarily should have none,
thereby, effecting true sobbing. Try it yourself
sometime. Give to the second, fifth, seventh and
tenth notes [i.e., the weak beats] of a measure a
76 Bruck, 'Wandlungen des Begriffes," 31.
63
special emphasis while, in turn, letting the others

diminish. Then you will see w hat a special effect
it is.77
Here is the passage to which Reichardt referred.
a
u n d b lic k tlh n a n : e r fUhll d e n Blick, e rg e b l zu-rilck, er u iel- net bit- ter-lich.
Ex. 11. Recitative "Nun klingen Waffen" from

Graun's Per Tod Jesu.
A similar definition of tempo rubato was given by Georg

Friedrich Wolf: 'Tempo rubato means th a t two or more notes
should be bound together in such a way th at it receives no new
attack or gets a noticeable stress. One indicates this treatm ent like
Fig. 35. G. F. Wolfs example.

77 Johann F. Reichardt, Briefe etnes aufinerksam Relsenden die Musik betreffend
(Frankfurt & Leipzig: N.p., 1774-76), 32: 'Was heutlgen AuffQhrung eine besondere Zierde gab.
war der Gesang der Madame Benda aus Potsdam.. . Bey den Worten, die den Schluss des dritten
Recitativs machen, wo von Petrus gesagt wird: er weinet bitterlich.. . gebrauchte sle das
sogenannte tempo rubato, dass heisst, das sle der Note elnen starken Akzent beilegte, die ihn
eigentlich nicht haben sollte, so, dass ein wahres Schluchzen daraus entstand. Versuchen Sie
es elnmal, der 2-ten, 5-ten, 7-ten und 10-ten Note dieses Taktes elnen besonderen Nachdruck
zu geben, die Qbrigen dagegen slnken zu lassen, so werden Sie linden, von welcher besonderen
Wlrkung es 1st"
78GeoigF. Wolf, Kurzgefasstes muslkallsches LextkonfHalle: J . C. Hendel, 1787): 'Tempo
rubato, bedeutet, dass zwel oder mehrere Tfine fest an elnander gebunden werden sollen, so
dass sie keinen neuen Anschlag, wohl aber elnen merkllchen Druck bekommen. Man zelgt
dies Verfahren also an."
64
According to Turk, this new meaning of tempo rubato was

secondary to the general concept of tempo rubato, th at is, melodic
displacement (syncopation rubato). Turk's explanation of metric
rubato has two components, the first being the emphasis of weak
beats; the second, being the shift of poetic meters of a vocal text.
With regard to the first component, he explained:
Besides the indicated meaning of tempo rubato, this

term is sometimes also understood to mean only a
special kind of execution in which the accent th at
falls on the strong notes is placed on the weak ones,
or in other words, when the notes which fall on the
weak beats are played louder than those which fall
on the strong beats, as in the following example [my
Fig. 361.79
Fig. 36. Turk's example.
The second component of Turk's concept of metric tempo

rubato concerns the momentary exchange of poetic meters in a
vocal passage (e.g. from trochaic to iambic as in Fig. 37).
Still another type of tempo rubato is prescribed by the

composer himself, for example in Pergolesi's Stabat
Mater [my Fig. 37].80
79TQik. School of Keyboard Plaving. 364. The original text (Klavierschule. 375) reads:
"Ausser der angezelgten Bedeutung desTempo rubato versteht man unter dlesem Ausdrucke
zuweilen auch nur eine besondere Art des Vortrages, wenn ndmllch der Accent, welcher den
guten Noten zukommt, auf die schlechten verlegt wird, oder mlt andem Worten: wenn man
die Tflne auf dem schlechten Takttheile u. starker vortragt, als diejenigen, welche in die gute
Zeit des Taktes (oder einer Note) fallen, wle In diesen Beyspielen."
65
Andonkino
fcfc m
0e} fifes Ml Ht e n Knuce. Iskindgn
P gey «fe» M ;-rt/*n
efc
Fig. 37. Turk's example from Pergolesi's Stabat Mater.
Or, probably, even in the following manner (my Fig. 38].
A llegretto (In S ^ cA )
-e » -
P -V1
£n-cjsX -dtu-ter\ *4e. £ n - g«i ■firen — -ten - «ic-
Fig. 38. Turk's example from Pergolesi's Stabat Mater.
Kimberger and Schulz both explained that this manner of

displacement was used to intensify the expression or to stir the
listener with something strange or unusual, for example, terror,
irresolution or very strong, profound and defiant emotions.81
While Turk permitted the improvisatory use of syncopation
rubato, he advised against the improvisatory use of metric rubato:
Liberties—or rather distortions—by the performer

should probably not be allowed unless they are ex
pressly prescribed by the composer.82-
Twenty years elapsed between Turk's (1789) and Heinrich

Christoph Koch’s description of tempo rubato (1808). During this
80T0rk, School of Keyboard Playing. 365. The original text reads (Klavierschule. 375-76):
"Noch elne Gattung von Tempo rubatowlrd von den Komponisten selbst vorgeschrieben, z. B.
In Pergolesi's Stabat mater."
81 Kimberger. The Art of Strict Musical Composition. 212; Schulz, “VerrOckung", 654.
8270ik, School of Keyboard Plavlng. 365. The original text reads (Klavierschule. 376):
"Freyhelten, oder vlelmehr Verzerrungen. die dem Spieler ohne ausdrOckllche Vorschrift des
Komponisten, nlcht wohl erlaubt werden kflnnen."
66
time, what Turk designated as the second meaning of rubato

(metric) had been elevated by Koch to primary position. In an
article appearing in the Allgemeine Musikalisches Zeitung (May 11,
1808),83 Koch substantially expanded the tempo rubato entry of
his Musikalisches Lexikon of 1802.84 The article entitled "On the
technical term: tempo rubato" specified three distinct types of
rubato as a compositional devices. Koch stated that as modem
composers were more fully embellishing their scores, he
recommended the improvisatory use of tempo m bato to be either
discontinued altogether, or, at most, restricted to use by virtuosi
(and then only very seldom). Although metric and syncopation
rubato share the same fundamental feature of accent displacement,
Koch seemed to have thought of metric displacement as the
principal understanding of mbato, listing in a footnote certain 1ypes
of syncopation as among the acceptable notions of mbato.
As a compositional device, Koch presented metric m bato as
temporary confusion of meter effected by three means: (1) by the
shift of accent from strong beats or parts of beats to weak beats or
parts of beats; (2) by transferring a voice entry in contrapuntal
pieces from one part of the bar or beat to another; and (3) by the
superimposition of even over odd meters (or vice versa) which we
today call hemiola. Accordingly, Koch explained, m bato occurred:
1) when a succession of equally divided notes whose down

beats are executed weak and whose upbeats are executed
for example:
83 Heinrich Koch, "Ueber den technischen Ausdruck: Tempo rubato," Allgemeine

Musikalisches Zeitung (May. 11, 1808), #33, Cols. 513-19. See the Appendix for the full
original text
84 Heinrich Koch, Musikalisches Lexikon (Frankfurt am Main: A Hermann. 1802), 1502.
67
p * p * t> * p *
Fig. 39. Koch's example.
This example which conforms to syncopation rubato establishes the

link between syncopation and metric rubato. In the former type,
displacements occurred within the rhythmic unit of quarter notes.
In metric rubato, there are possibilities for increasingly larger units
of time which Koch explained and demonstrated in the next
examples.
Also, belonging to this case is one in which rests falling

on strong beats in all of the participating voices, thus,
displacing the accent to the weak beat, for example:
2) when a melodic phrase is imitated in such a way that

the second voice gets transferred to the opposite part of
the measure or beat, as, for example in the following two
passages:
68
These procedures are only used in fugues or in contra

puntal pieces. Finally, this type of displacement or
metric accent developed: 3) when a melodic part, which
by the nature of its grammatical accent, belongs to an
even meter as, for example, the phrase a employs an odd
meter, as in b, or, vice versa: when a melodic part in an
odd meter, as in c employs an even meter, as in d.
c)
In a lengthy footnote, Koch distinguished among types of

syncopated passages those th a t he considered representative of
tempo rubato. According to Koch, only those passages of fig. 44 and
not those of fig. 45 are to be reckoned among the notions of tempo
rubato, since the essential property of tempo rubato is the
immediate succession of accent displacements.
69
Fig. 44. Koch’s example.
Koch recognized th at the third type of displacement which he

outlined had been used "judiciously and sparingly" in minuets by
Haydn and Dittersdorf. In his Musikalisches Lexicon. Koch quoted
the following m inuet of Haydn to demonstrate Imbroglio
("confusion") which he equated with tempo rubato. This device can
be used to effect a kind of ritardando (Rtickung).85
M
£ -4 m
F
r— f r r r
m
Fig. 46. A passage from a Haydn minuet

demonstrating Koch's definition of imbroglio.
The conclusion of Koch's article in AMZ explained an older

practice of melodic tempo rubato which had now acquired a
85 Koch, "Imbroglio" In Musikalisches Lexikon (1602). 775: "IMBROGLIC^dle Verwlrrung.
So benennet m an zuweilen diejenigen Satzte elnes Tons to ekes, in welchen eine
entgegengesetzte Taktart elngemlscht 1st, wle z. B. In folgendem Trio einer Menuet von Haydn.
Viele nennen dlese Art der ROckungen auch tempo rubata"
70
subsidiary meaning. This practice, which Koch said was especially

associated with the old Berlin school, was understood as:
a solo voice by which a player intentionally deviates

from the present motion of the tempo and from the
normal division of paired notes. The melodic line
was executed, as it were, without any clear rhythmic
division while the accompaniment continued along in the
strictest of time. Among others, Franz Benda often used
this kind of execution as a special expressive means in
the adagio movements of his concertos and sonatas.
Although it still lends itself now and then to the
rhythmically sound virtuosi, who occasionally and ad
vantageously use a similar kind of execution and who
(probably for show) know how to return surreptitiously
to the orderly conduct of the accompanimental motion,
it usually now appears with a far less noticeable
deviation from the tempo than formerly. Therefore,
it can be stated th at this type of Tempo rubato execution
is presently considered old-fashioned and is no longer
customary among virtuosi of the high order. Thus,
the neglect of this kind of performance would be far
more advantageous th an detrimental to the art, partly
for the reason that composers nowadays completely
compose out the melody in the adagio movements of
their concertos, by no means are they only sketched, as
it were, like a skeleton as the old composers did who
usually left the elaboration to the solo player; and, partly
and especially, because the search for novelty very easily
goes against the limit permitting this kind of playing to-----
fall prey to the the ridiculous and the absurd.86
86 Koch, "Ueber den technlschen Ausdruck," AMZ cols. 518-19. The full text along with my
translation appears In the Appendix. Louis Adam and A. F. Hflser also cautioned performers
against the Improper and immoderate use of improvisatory rubato (see the Appendix for their
discussions).
71
The following examples demonstrate metric rubato. In the first

example (12) from Vivaldi’s cantata L'Usignuolo. metric rubato
execution is confined to the accompanying instrumental parts so
th at correct accentuation of the syllable and words of the text is not
hindered.
Ex. 12. Vivaldi. Cantata L'usignuolo.
The second example (13), from Mozart's Rondo in A Minor K.

511, uses metric displacement in one voice while the others
maintain a steady accompaniment; the third example (14), from
the first movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata in F Major K. 332
(300k), uses displacement simultaneously in all of the parts.
-f-
JL k J
tec
,-r
■y — j — r-
L A
Ex. 13. Mozart, Rondo in A Minor

(bars 177-180).
Ex. 14. Allegro 3 /4 from Mozart's
Sonata in F (bars 60-70).
The last example, from the first movement of d em enti's Sonata

in G minor "Didone Abbandonato" (Op. 50/3) displaces the entire
melody by one beat.
(ex. 15).
A llegro m v t s r n r s M i j v E
M M o tron == *
Dililteranrln, e JUedtiai
Ex. 15a. dem enti, Sonata "Didone Abbandonata",

the original melody (bars 1-8).
Ex. 15b, the same melody metrically displaced.
73
Both Boris Bruck and Karen Rosenak have stated that the new
meaning of tempo rubato (metric rubato) had become well-
established by the first quarter of the nineteenth-century.87 While
some nineteenth-century dictionaries defined tempo rubato only as
displacement of grammatical accents, for instance, Peter
Lichtenthal's Dizionario e Bibliografia della Musica (Milan, 1826),
others listed metric displacement among their notions of tempo
rubato, for example, the Nuovo Dizionario della Lingua Italiana
(Torino, 1872).88
Before discussing C. P. E. Bach's concept of rubato, I offer the

following excerpt from Beethoven's Sonata in G Major, Op. 31 n o .l,
second movement (Adagio grazioso) because it graphically depicts
the differences between C. P. E. Bach's and other concepts of
rubato. In these three bars of music (Ex. 16), Beethoven has
synthesized three types of tempo rubato: bar 95 of the C.P.E. Bach
87 Bruck, "Wandlungen des Begrlffes" 30; K. Rosenak, "Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century
Concepts of Tempo Rubato. 24-25.
88 Peter Uchtenthal, Dizionario e Blbliografla della Musica del Dotore Pietro Lichtenthal
Vol. 2 (Milan: A. Fontana, 1826): "Questa espresslone signlfica talvolta la dlslocazione del
accento grammaticale, rendendo piu sensibile 11Tempo debole che i). Tempo forte (Fig. 147);
tal' altra indica anche la transposlzione d'unamelodia dal Tempo pari nel Tempo dispart, e
vice versa (Fig. 148). Lo scopo di tale procedlmento ft diretto a rendere la composlzione picante
ed a fame risaltare i contrasti. I plagiari, involando le melodle altmi, cercano talvolta di
mascherare 11furto col Tempo rubato." Figures 147 and 148 referred to in this definition are
the same as those of Koch.
Nlcold Tommaseo and B. Bellini (eds.), Nuovo Dizionario della Lingua Italiana Vol. 4
(Torino: UTET, 1872): "Rubare il tempo signiflca Accentuare 11tempo devole invece del forte,
od II ripetere un passo altemamente; situandolo in tempi o momenti di i forza diversa, o
lnflne nell'atto di esecuzlone see mare od accrescere ad arte il valore di certe note, accrescendo
o scemando poi quello di altre, senza scaplto della mlsura."
74
type; bar 96 of the evenly syncopated (north German) type; and bar
97 of the Marpurg type (syncopations with rests).
05
cresc. f
A
. cresc. , P fp)
î ♦ i #■ i :
Ex. 16. Adagio grazioso 9 /8 from Beethoven's

Sonata in G; the embellished passage (bars 95-98).
Ex. 17. The same passage in its original form (bars 5-7)
C. P. E. BACH RUBATO
Among the north Germans, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach offered a

unique description of tempo rubato in the third edition of his
Versuch uber die wahre Art das Klavier zu spielen (Leipzig.
1787).89 Bach’s aesthetic of tempo rubato was "contrived
disagreement between performers or the two hands of a
keyboardist."90 This type of rubato is characterized by the use of
extended figuration or (instrumental) coloratura consisting of
uneven or indivisible small note values in the melodic voice against
even or stagnant rhythm in the acompaniment (when one is
present). The illusion of freedom or abandon is suggested by this
type of execution which adds color and, at the same time,
purposely obscures the rhythm and contour of the melody. Bach
stated th at his keyboard compositions contained many examples of
this style of tempo rubato, for instance, as early as 1760 in his
Sechs Sonaten mit Veranderten Reprisen (Wq. 50).91 These
passages, employed in a wide range of tempos, were meant to be
exemplars of passagework that skillful players and virtuosos might
improvise in performance. In the preface to the six sonatas, Bach
remarked th at it was indispensable to alter repeats in his day.
Every performer was "expected" to do this. Therefore, Bach
supplied variants in his sonatas as substitutes for spontaneous
embellishment specifically for am ateurs and beginners who were
not capable of doing so themselves.92 Although Bach first
89 C. P. E. Bach, Versuch Ober die wahre Art das Klavier zu Solelen. Part I (Leipzig:
Schwickertschen Verlage, 1787), 8.
90 C. P. E. Bach. Essay on the Tirue Art of Plavlng Keyboard Instruments trans. by William
Mitchell (New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1949), 162.
91 C.P.E. Bach. Sechs Sonaten mlt Veranderten Reprisen (Berlin: George Louis Winter, 1760).
75
76
advocated this kind of rubato as improvised passagework, he

incorporated tempo rubato as an integral part of his variational
technique in composition as evidenced by his six volumes of
keyboard pieces (1787), Kenner und Liebhaber.
Ernst Wilhelm Wolf also included passagework similar to Bach's
as both improvisatory and compositional practices in his notion of
tempo rubato. In the lengthy preface to an edition of his keyboard
compositions and in his treatise, he explained th at both he and C.
P. E. Bach employed such passages in keyboard compositions and
th at Franz Benda used them in his violin solos.93 It would seem
arbitrary to designate this type of rubato by Bach’s name were it not
for the fact th at Bach used it extensively in his sonatas as early as
1760 (twenty-five years before Wolfs description) and was the first
to formulate this embellishing technique as tempo rubato in
writing.
Bach offered only a few statements about tempo rubato in the
introduction to the first edition of his Versuch (1753): "If anyone
begins to ru sh or drag, he is most clearly brought to rights by the
keyboardist, since the others [orchestral members] are sufficiently
occupied with their ru n s and ornaments. In particular, those [who
92 C. P. E. Bach, Sechs Sonaten mlt Veranderten Reprisen (Six Sonatas with Varied
Reprises) ed. by Etienne Darbellay (Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag, 1976), xiii. In the preface to
his Six Sonatas. Bach wrote: 'While composing these Sonatas I thought especially of
beginners and of those amateurs who, on account of their years or of other business, have
neither patience nore time enough to practice much. Apart from giving them something easy I
wanted to provide them with the pleasure of performing alterations without having to resort
to either inventing them themselves or getting someone else to write them and then
memorizing them with much difficulty. Finally, I have indicated clearly everytlng that
belongs to a good performance, so that these pieces can be played with all possible freedom
even by those who have no special disposition."
93 wolfli). Elne Sonatlne. Vler affectvolle Sonaten Klavier, Preface (v) and Musikalisches
Unterricht.VoLI.35.
77
occupied with their ru n s and ornaments. In particular, those [who

apply] tempo rubato are given, by means of the keyboard, the
necessary emphatic definition of the beat."94 These prescriptive
statements, which agree with those th at Quantz gave in his Versuch
published one year earlier, were meant as an antidote to a
performer's hurrying and hesitating in an ensemble setting.
However, in the chapter on "Performance" (Vortrag) in the third
edition of the Versuch. one finds an altogether different
description of tempo rubato. In the context of discussing the
appropriate deviations from the basic tempo of a piece [tempo
modification] th at are authorized by the nature of changing musical
affect, Bach began his discussion of tempo rubato as if to imply that
using tempo rubato was also necessitated by the nature of the affect,
b u t with some differences. For the purpose of clarifying Bach's
meaning, I have inserted examples of rubato passages drawn from
his own music into his discussion.
This brings us to the tempo rubato. Its indication is

simply the presence of more or fewer notes than are
contained in the normal division of the bar.95
94 Rosenak In "Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Concepts of Tempo Rubato," 14: Bach's
original text reads tVersuch of 1753,8): "Will Jemand anfangen zu eyien oder zu schleppen, so
kan er durchs Clavier am deutlichsten zu rechte gebracht werden, lndem die andem wegen
vieler Passagien oder RGckungen mlt sich selbst genug beschaftiget sind; besonders haben die
Stimmen, welche Tempo rubato haben. hierdurch den nOthigen nachdrflcklichen Vorschlag
des Tacts."
95C .P.E. Bach, Essay, trans. by W. Mitchell (NewYork: W. W. Norton and Co., 1949), 161-62.
The original passage reads Versuch of 1787,99-100): "Hierher gehOrt auch das Tempo rubato
In der Andeutung desselben haben die Figuren bald mehrere, bald wenigere Noten, als die
Eintheilung des Taktes erlaubet. Man kann dadurch einen Theil des Taktes, elnen ganzen,
auch mehrere Tacte, so zu sagen, verziehen. Das Schwereste und HauptsSchllchste 1st dieses:
dass alle Noten von glelcher Geltung aufe strengsteglelch vorgetragen werden mOssen. Wenn
78
U96
Ex. 18. Bach, Sonata in B-flat, Wq. 50/5,

Tempo di Minuetto 3 /4 (bar 196).
ec
* / 4
Ex. 19. Bach, Sonata in C Minor, Wq. 50/6,

Allegro moderato 3 /4 (bars 132-37).
die andere aufs pQnctlichste alle Tacttheile anschlaget: so hat man gethan, was man hat thun
sollen. Nur sehr selten kommen als denn die Stimmen zugleich im Anschlagen. Wenn sich
das Tempo rubato mit einem Einschnitte endiget, so kann etwas von diesem letztem mit ins
Tempo rubato gezogen werden, nur muss das Ende davon mit der Grund Stlmme zugleich da
seyn, wie man Qberhaupt bey diesem Tempo auf solche Art endigen muss. Langsame Noten.
schmeichelnde und traurige Gedanken slnd alsdenn die geschicktesten. Dissonirende
Harmonien schicken sich hierzu besser, als consonirende SStze. Es gehOrt zur richtigen
AusfQhrung dieses Tempo's viele Urtheils-Krait und ganz besonders viel Empflndung. Wer
beydes hat, dem wird es nicht schwer fallen, mit aller Preyheit. die nicht den geringsten
Zwang vertragt, seinen Vortrag einzurichten, und er wOrde, wenn es seyn mOsste, alle
Gedanken verziehen kOnnen. Zur Uebung gienge es an, aber welter nicht. Hingegen wird bey
aller MGhe, ohne hinl&ngliche Empflndung nichts rechtes ausgerichtet kOnnen werden. So
bald man sich mit seiner Ober-Stimme schlavisch an den Tact blndet, so verllert diesTempo
sein Wesentliches, well alle Gbrige Stimmen aufs strengste nach dem Tacte ausgefflhrt werden
mOssen. Ausser dem Clavier-Spieler kOnnen alle Sanger und Instrumentisten, wenn sle
begleltet werden. dies Tempo viel leichter anbringen, als der erstere, zumal, wenn er sich
allein begleiten muss. Oben 1st die Ursache davon angeftlhrt worden. Der Bass kann, beym
Clavier ohne Begleitung, wenn es nOthig 1st, gedndert werden. nur muss die Harmonle bleiben.
In meinen Clavier-Sachen flndet man viele Proben von diesem Tempo. Die Elntheiltmg un
Andeutung davon 1st so gut, als es seyn konnte, ausgedurckt. Wer Meister in der AusfQhrung
dieses Tempo's 1st. blndet sich nicht allezelt an die hingesetzten Zahlen, 5. 7, 11 u.s.w. Er
macht zuweilen mehrere, zuwellen wenlgere Noten, nachdem er aufgerdumt 1st, aber allezeit
mit der gehOrigen Freyheit."
79
A whole bar, part of one, or several bars may be, so to

speak, distorted in this manner.
CO
Ex. 20. Bach, Sonata in G, Wq. 55/6

Allegretto moderato 4 /4 (bars 42-48).
The most difficult b u t most important task is to give

all notes of the same value exactly the same duration,
against the bar and the other strictly with it, it may be
said th at the performer is doing everything that can be
required of him. It is only rarely that all parts are
struck simultaneously. The beginning of a caesura which
terminates a tempo rubato may be drawn into the mani
pulation, but the end, as in all endings of this tempo, m ust
find all parts together over the bass.
113 CV
AO
r f f t f r. ..1—
— kL| J_L
§ r - £ 8T
♦ ^»
-t—T---------- 1--------- --- 1--------- !-----
f
l): ....
\ fr----f—r—
t— |—F-------
A ' ' A
Ex. 21. Bach, Sonata in B-flat Wq. 50/5

Tempo di Minuetto 3 /4 (bars 113-16).
80
Ex. 22. Bach. Sonata in B-flat Wq. 50/5

Larghetto 3 /8 (bars 56-57).
Slow notes and caressing or sad melodies are the best,

and dissonant chords are better than consonant ones.
Proper execution of this tempo demands critical facul
ties and a high order of sensibility. He who possesses
these will not find it difficult to fashion a performance
whose complete freedom will show no trace of coer
cion, and he will be able to manipulate any kind of pas
sage. However, practice alone will be of no help here,
for without a fitting sensitivity, no amount of pains
will succeed in contriving a correct rubato. As soon as
the upper part begins slavishly to follow the bar, the
essence of rubato is lost, for then all parts m ust be
played in time. Other instrum entalists and singers,
when they are accompanied, can introduce the tempo
much more easily than the solo keyboardist. The reason
for this is the one ju st stated (i.e., it is easier for two
performers to play in contrived disagreement than it is
for the two hands of a single performer). If necessary,
the solo keyboardist may alter the bass, b u t not the
harmony. Many examples of this tempo are found in my
keyboard pieces. The division and indication of these is
about as satisfactory as can be expected.96
96 An important observation of Bach's habit of notating rubato passages in his autographs
is made by Etienne Darbellay. editor of the Amadeus Edition of Bach's Sechs Sonaten
(Preface): It is interesting to note at this point that the perfect independence of the hands when
playing different divisions of the meter f tempo rubato) is expressed precisely in the original
notation by the vertical alignment of the notes.. . The vertical alignment of the notes, which
should sound simultaneously whether on one staff or two, is practically always observed [by
81
no - --------------- u
Ex. 23. Bach, Sonata in D Minor, Wq. 5 0 /4

Allegretto grazioso 2 /4 (bars 110-19).
He who has mastered the tempo rubato need not be

fettered by the numerals which divide notes into
groups of 5, 7, 11, etc. According to his disposition
b u t always with appropriate freedom he may add or
omit notes.
Ex. 24. Bach, Sonata in B-flat Wq. 50/5

Adagio sostenuto 4 /4 (bar 93).
Bach]. How else could one explain the obvious space which separated the two central notes of
the rubato figure of bars 111 and 115, Sonata IV, first movenr nt, If it is not to indicate where
to play the left hand?" (See my Ex. 23).
82
Ex. 25. Bach, Sonata in D Minor Wq. 50/4

Adagio sostenuto 4 /4 (bar 7).
To summarize: C. P. E. Bach’s concept of tempo rubato was

intended primarily for highly skillful instrumentalists in allegro and
adagio movements. This type of rubato was characterized by uneven
or irrational melodic figuration (i.e., triplets, quintuplets,
septuplets, etc.)97 applied to slow (long) notes, caressing or sad
melodies and dissonant harmonies. Bach's concept uniquely
combined melodic alteration with metric abandonment, th at is,
while the bass progressed in time (as in all styles of eighteenth-
century rubato), the right hand or melody executed its part freely.
The confluence of a tempo in one hand and ad libitum in the other
requires independence of the hands. The downbeat or the end of a
cadence is the point of restitution. Unlike syncopation rubato,
which is played in an emphatic and halting manner, Bach's style of
97 Although C. P. E. Bach was the first eighteenth-centuiy writer to discuss this type of
rubato figuration in a treatise, it must be acknowledged that the use of uneven or Irrational
rhythms was also a technique of melodic embellishment in the Baroque era, e.g. In the vocal
and Instrumental literatures ofCaccini, Corelli, Tartini, Gemlnlani and Marals just to
mention a few. The technical term for this Is division or diminution. However similar the
appearances of seventeenth-centuiy division and Bach rubato figuration may be, they
resulted from different intentions on the part of composers and differed In psychological
affects upon performers and listeners.
83
rubato is played in an unaccented manner, giving equality to notes

of equal value. In other words, Bach's style of rubato should be
played more freely than syncopation rubato in the melodic part
with an underlying regular (but not metronomic) accompaniment.
C. P. E. Bach's concept of tempo rubato presages rubato passages
of the early romantic tradition, for example, the following excerpt
from a sonata by Hummel.
A.DAC10.
Ex. 26. Adagio from Hummel's Sonata in D,

Op. 106 (bars 47-49).
L a r i ; l u ‘t l o n » -3 6
I)Irtftito s r m f i r r
tlofrr.
Ex. 27. The original melody (bars 1-4).
84
Regarding the execution of this passage, Hummel remarks th at (1)

"each hand m ust preserve perfect independence; and (2) the left
hand should progress strictly in time because it is the basis upon
which the various ornamental figures of the right hand are built;
therefore, the left hand ought to make its presence felt."98
Chopin, too, surrendered to the beautiful effect created by the
kind of tempo rubato passages promulgated by Bach. An ultimate
manifestation of Bach's rubato style is found in the Larghetto
movement of Chopin's second piano concerto (ex. 28). In a
statem ent strikingly similar to C. P. E. Bach's and W. A. Mozart's
thoughts on rubato, Chopin purportedly remarked: "The singing
hand may deviate, the accompaniment m ust keep time.” "Fancy a
tree with its branches swayed by the wind; the stem represents the
steady time, the moving leaves are the melodic inflections. This is
what is m eant by Tempo and Tempo rubato."99
98 Johann N. Hummel, Mfethode complete thfeoriaue et pratique pour le pianoforte (Paris.

1838) (Geneva: Minkoff Reprint, 1981). 452 (my translation).
99 Danmeuther, Musical Ornamentation, Vol. n, 161. Attributed to Chopin by his pupil Lenz.
For an extensive discussion of Chopin's concept of tempo rubato see the new edition of Jean-
Jacques Eigeldinger. Chooln vu par ses fcleves translated by Naomi Shohet as Chopin:
Pianist and Teacher as Seen by his Pupils (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1986), 49-52
and 119-22.
Ex. 28. Larghetto 4 /4 from Chopin's Concerto
in F Minor, Op. 21 (bars 74-77).
m o tto c o n d e lic a te z ta
Ex. 29. Chopin's original melody (bars 7-9).
SUMMARY
Tempo rubato offers a modem performer the opportunity to

become more involved than he is accustomed in the process of
realizing a musical score. In order to do this, a performer has to
bridge the gap between his theoretical understanding and the
practical application of tempo rubato, a challenging b u t necessary
undertaking. First of all, the performer should start by recalling
the concept of tempo rubato explained by Tosi and the three
specific types of tempo rubato practiced by the north Germans:
syncopation; metric and C. P. E. Bach rubato. Broadly speaking,
two basic forms obtain within these four types of eighteenth-
century rubato: melodic alteration and metric displacement.
Second, the fundamental properties of m bato should be
understood as: (1) rhythmic presence of the bass; (2) alteration of
the melody by means of (a) anticipating and retarding notes, or (b)
shifting grammatical accents in one or more voices, or (c)
disguising melodies with uneven figuration; and (3) restitution at
the downbeat or the end of the cadence.
Third, all m bato is purposeful deviation of some sort serving to
give a melodic passage more expressive dimensions and, like the
creative use of language, presupposes thorough knowledge and
command of the elements of composition. In other words, it is not
enough for the performer to know where tempo m bato may
possibly be applied b u t he m ust also know why he is doing so and
how to carry it out. Furthermore, a performer ought to be able to
identify and use the "essential" ornaments correctly (i.e. know their
types and functions); add "arbitrary" embellishments typical of the
style of the period, composer and composition; know the harmonic
86
87
implications of his alterations; and recognize the various characters

or emotions th at a composition portrays so th at his use of rubato
clarifies the expressive content of the music.
Fourth, the tempos th at can be used in rubato (from veiy slow to
very fast) are as varied as the moods (from pathetic and tender to
agitated and urgent). Equally varied, the duration of rubato can last
as long as several bars or as short as a few notes.
Fifth, a performer has to develop an awareness of "signs"
indicating the suitability of applying rubato. For instance, C. P. E.
Bach suggested stagnant harmony, sad and caressing melodies as
best for his style of rubato; syncopation rubato relieves a passage of
excessively uniform rhythmic motion; a cantabile line mixed with
long and short notes can be manipulated for greater effect by
augmenting and diminishing note values; acceleration and
ritardando can be suggested by negotiation of large and small note
values; prolongation of important words or syllables (in a vocal text)
or important notes (e.g. appoggiaturas, harmonic, dissonant,
chromatic, suspensions, high, low, long and strong-beat notes) may
even seem to require "lingering"; and, finally, displacing
grammatical accents may be convincingly affective or rhetorical at
an appropriate moment.
And, sixth, the perfomer, upon recognizing tempo rubato
passages, m ust reflect th at recognition in his playing. Since these
passages represent such affects as, for instance, instability,
irregularity, agitation, out-of-jointedness or freedom, one's playing
should correspondingly be altered. Perhaps, also, the notation of
such passages can be understood as even more approximate
rhythmically than in all the rest of the piece.
88
Using melodic scales as models, I would like to conclude this

essay with some guidelines and examples for recognizing and using
rubato in eighteenth-century repertory. If Tosi s words are taken
literally, all extemporaneous embellishment can be classified as
rubato. However, Tosi more specifically meant the application of
extensive ornamentation that an adagio or "pathetic" style of singing
required. Such ornamentation included portamento, gliding,
trilling, obligatory cadential ornaments, anticipations, passagework
and embellishing single tones, simple intervals and filling in leaps.
A specific indication of rubato that Tosi made was in reference to
"strascino" (a scale-like ornament, see Fig. 2), which he
recommended using unequal motion in the melody over even or
equal motion of the bass accompaniment.
Similarly, Franz Benda seemed to indicate th at tempo rubato
consisted not necessarily in embellishment itself b ut rather in the
dissimilar rhythms th at intimate rushing and hesitating, as in the
following passage where he inscribed "tempo rubato."
Ex. 30. Adagio un poco andante 3 /4 from Benda's

Sonata in A for Accompanied Violin (bars 31-32).
89
Of two scales in the Adagio of Mozart's Sonata in C Minor K. 457

(Ex. 31), the descending scale (bar 51) m ust be played with Tosi
rubato. This means that the player has to take away as much time
from the notated high b-flat quarter-note in the right hand as it
takes to play the scale in the time of the left hand, beginning with
some lingering on the first few notes as the notation suggests and
progressively accelerating to the end. On the contrary, the
ascending scale (bar 52) is played ad libitum, being an Eingang (i.e.
a lead-in or short passagework on dominant harmony).
Ex. 31. Adagio 4 /4 from Mozart’s Sonata

in C Minor (bars 51-52).
As discussed earlier, several passages in piano concertos of Mozart

are curiously and, probably intentionally, naked in the melody above
a rhythmical accompaniment. It would be an embarrassment if the
player executed them as notated. These passages, occurring in
both fast and slow movements, also require Tosi rubato, for
example, the siciliano Adagio of Mozart's Piano Concerto in A Major,
90
K. 488 (bars 85-88). Example 32 shows Mozart's scoring, while

Example 33 gives a realization (possibly by Abbe von Stadler).
-1-------- 1---- n f nr- = e]

•m n —
m i r 7 , , l t -=^= ir......7....?—.=3=j
f f t ----- *--
If - .L--i
V--■fe:
4C^-3 ir it-s fra y~i- ■fc-k-S-fca-KBk'lf kB. 1■**lJp.»
ifc-hnA*
.'1TJff it ht:M
■■| b KfcJiB»gJlfc hfc~K[
I*} i kK hE’lkTiTTSTfc k ->1'tjy wK'i'
e--fcrS-KcJic-Kt Ifct H
i- wJifc*i Lfc-kgjr ft ft
rj P'«r f r f ■ r i r— r * r
.. »*“ •. ♦
V 1* L i-F fe L i flt "T r - jj= l
Ex. 32. Adagio 4 /4 from Mozart's Piano

Concerto in A (bars 84-90).
87
Ex. 33. Embellishment of Example 32.
91
Although some sources explained that tempo rubato also

consisted in the addition, subtraction or exchange of melodic
notes, it more specifically concerned the displacement of note
values by either anticipation and retardation or melodic dislocation
(Ex. 35 and 36), as in the following phrases from C. P. E. Bach's
Sonata in C Minor (Wq. 50/6).
,f <3)
J f ;k m s' - u--- V—
1 * W + M '
-1---------------------- # - 0 — S ___ • ------------
Û 'l
. i J^ =
Ex. 34. Bach, Allegro 3 /4 (bars 6-8).

The original phrase.
A fV
JL
Ex. 35. A variant of ex. 35 (bars 15-16).
199
g -
Ex. 36. A variant of ex. 35 (bars 199-200).
92
Syncopation rubato can be used if a player wants to interrupt

excessive even motion in a homorhythmic passage or transform a
melody for affective reasons. For instance, in the Larghetto of
Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat Major, K. 595, the melody
is written five times without alteration (Ex. 37). It seems unlikely
that Mozart meant this literally since embellishing melodies was so
essential to his compositional style and (remembering the
Hoffmann brothers' account) manner of executing slow
movements.100 Without destroying the chasteness and simplicity of
the movement, the pianist can effect a strain of sadness in one of
the repetitions of the melody as I have attempted to do in example
39. Based upon my own perception of Mozart's embellishing
techniques, I have created other possibilities to further heighten
the expression in this passage (e.g. substituting the left hand
accompaniment from an earlier statement of the melody and
slightly modifying the harmony in the sixth bar).
Ex. 37. Mozart, Larghetto, bars (1-8).
100 See page 22.
93
Ex. 38. My embellishment of the previous passage (ex. 37).
The concept of rubato in the early nineteenth-centuiy as

described by Adam and Pollini allowed a keyboardist (and
presumably not players on sustaining instruments) to slightly delay
the melodic right hand over a rhythmically steady accompaniment.
By this means the cantabile expression of the melody is enhanced.
However, in my opinion, the length of the delaying should almost
be imperceptible so th at the melody does not sound syncopated.
The notation by Adam and Pollini tried to indicate this (see Figs. 31
and 32). Among other pianist-composers of the nineteenth
century, Chopin made a compositional device out of this kind of
rubato.101
101 Tempo rubato as a nineteenth-centuiy performance practice and compositional device is

discussed in Karen Rosenak's dissertation "Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuiy Concepts of
Tempo Rubato," D.MA diss., Stanford University, 1978.
Ex. 39. Chopin, Prelude in C, Op. 28/1 (bars 1-6).
Metric rubato is used to express strong, defiant emotions by

distorting the natural inflection of a passage as did Bach in the
following phrase:
in
g
f/ W ~T
Ex. 40. Allegro 3 /4 from Bach's Ex. 41. The original phrase
Sonata in C Minor (bar 127). (bar 19).
Metric rubato can be used extemporaneously (and is even implied

by the slurring) in certain unmarked scale passages th at contain
off-beat slurring (Ex. 42). In non-legato passages, this execution
creates a similar effect (Ex. 43).
95
Ex. 42. Larghetto 4 /4 from Mozart's Piano Concerto

in B-flat, K. 595 (bar 98).
21
f pf pf p
W f
Ex. 43. Adagio 4 /4 from Mozart's Sonata

in C Minor, K. 457 (bar 21).
Upon recognizing a metric rubato passage, the performer should

emphasize (without exaggeration) the intended disturbance even if
it is not appropriately marked with dynamics, as in this hemiola
passage by Haydn.
7"
Ex. 44. Andante 3 /8 from Haydn's Sonata in E Minor,
Hob. XVI: 22 (bars 65-67).
96
In the following example by Benda, the composer indicated the use

of metric rubato as a variant ending as well as inscribing the term
in the score.
Ex. 45. Presto scherzando 6 /8 from Benda's Sonata

in A for Accompanied Violin (bar 71).
Regarding the C. P. E. Bach style of rubato, a player can create a

beautiful effect by obscuring the rhythm and the contour of the
melody through the use of irregular rhythmic groupings. In several
of Bach's examples, this sort of figuration is used to bridge large
intervals for greater melodic continuity. Chromaticsm often
appears in the figuration. One might embellish a melody as did
Bach in the next example (compare with the original phrase in
Ex. 34).
co
_n. v.. .. r..
.: : r r z±=±=±= == —-!- —
p r-:
U------
------------f5--------------
Ex. 46. Allegro 3 /4 from Bach's Sonata in

C Minor Wq. 50/6 (bar 135).
It is difficult to establish whose music should receive this type of

rubato. Because E. W. Wolf stated that he, Bach and Benda used this
97
type of figuration, I recommend limiting this kind of rubato to the

"sensitive" (empjmdsam ) style of their works. Wolf gave an
example of embellishing a simple melody in this style as in the
following example whose divisions indicate some rhythmically
flexibility on the part of the performer.102
Fig. 47. Wolfs example.
A systematic exploration of embellishing techniques in the

repertories of Quantz, Bach, Benda, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
Clementi, among many eighteenth-century composers, would be a
worthwhile study for a performer interested in this aspect of
performance practice.103 Additionally, the examples th at I have
given should be consulted to see their contexts in order to gain
better insight into the uses and effects of tempo rubato. Finally, I
would like to remind the reader th at tempo rubato is only a means
of expression. It is not the thing itself but something like a symbol
th a t stands for something greater beyond it. When encountering a
certain passage th at seems to need rubato, the performer m ust be
102 A fine example of this style of rubato can be found In Haydn's Sonata In B-flat Major, Hob.
XVI: 18, Allegro moderato, bar 7.
103 Also see eighteenth-century instrumental and vocal examples of embellishment in an
anthology by: Hans-Peter Schmidt, Die Kunst der Verzlerung lm 18. Jahrhundert (Kassel:
Barenreiter-Verlag, 1955).
98
competent enough to use it freely or, as Baillot suggested, to

abandon himself to the inspiration of the moment. This is tempo
rubato in its true form.
APPENDIX
ADAM, Louis. Methode de piano du conservatoire (Paris, 1805).

Geneva: Minkoff Reprints, 1974, 160.
Quelques personnes ont voulu mettre en vogue de ne plus jouer

en mesure, et d'executer toute espece de musique comme une
fantaisie, prelude ou caprice. On croit par la donner plus
d'expression a u n morceau et on l'altere de maniere a le rendre
meconnoissable. Sans doute l'expresion exige qu'on ralentisse ou
qu'on presse certaines notes de chant, mais ces retards ne doivent
pas etre continuels pendant tout u n morceau, mais seulement dans
quelques endroits ou l'expression d’un chant langoureux ou la passion
d'un chant agite exigent u n retard ou u n mouvement plus anime.
Dans ce cas c’est le chant qu'il faut alterer, et la basse doit marquer
strictem ent la mesure.
Translation by Naomi Shohet in Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, Chopin:

Pianist and Teacher as seen by his Pupils. Cambridge: Cambridge
Univ. Press, 1986, 119.
Some people have tried to start a trend of playing out of time,

playing all genres of music like a fantasy, prelude or capriccio. It is
thought to enhance the expression of a piece, while serving in
effect to distort it beyond recognition. Naturally, expressivity
requires certain notes of the melody to be slowed or quickened;
however, these fluctuations m ust not be used continually
throughout the piece, b u t only in places where the expression of a
languorous melody or the passion of an agitated one demands a
slower or a more animated pace. In this case, it is the melody that
should be altered, while the bass should strictly maintain the beat.
[See also pp. 49-52 of this book.]
BAILLOT, Pierre (Levasseur, Catel and Baudiot). Methode de

violoncelle (Paris, 1804). Geneva: Minkoff Editeur, 1974, 140.
Pour accompagner la musique instrumentale telle que la sonate,

le trio, le quatuor ou le quintetto, 11 y a peu de regies a donner, et
c’est surtout dans ce genre d’execution que le gout doit servir de
guide et que le sentim ent des convenances doit poser des bom es a
99
100
1’expression. Celui qui execute la partie principale peut se livrer a

son inspiration et mettre quelquefois un grand abandon dans son
jeu, mais la basse d’accompagnement dont la fonction est de
determiner la marche des accords ne doit se permettre aucun
equivoque, aucune irregularite, aucune expression particuliere qui
lui ferait quitter son caractere et qui rendrait la musique diffuse
en lui otant la partie fondamentale. La Basse dans sa marche grave
et simple doit toujours etre articulee franchement et doit non
seulement garder l'aplomb mais encore le faire sentir.
L’accompagnateur doit rester impassible au milieu de ces legeres
alterations de mesure que l’expression permet de feindre et dans
ce desordre apparent que les Italiens appellent Tempo disturbato.
la Basse doit servir de regulateur dans un morceau d'ensemble de
la meme maniere que la main gauche doit maintenir l'aplomb dans
l'execution d'une sonate de piano. Le premier soin de
l'accompagnateur doit done etre de conserver et de marquer
l'aplomb.
Translation (mine).
In accompanying instrumental music such as the sonata, trio,

quartet or quintet, there are few rules to give. It is, above all, in
this area of performance th at one's taste is used to guide oneself in
formulating limits to the expressive possibilities. He who plays the
principal part sometimes may, upon inspiration, abandon himself to
his inspiration and assume great freedom in his playing, b u t the
bass accompaniment, whose function is to conduct the progression
of the harmony, m ust permit no ambiguity, irregularity or peculiar
expression which would forsake the musical character and render
the music diffuse by taking away the fundamental part. The bass in
its grave and simple progression always ought to be clearly
articulated and not only ought to be steady but, also, ought to make
itself felt. The accompanist should be imperturbable during these
slight alterations of time th at are permitted to be feigned by the
expression. And, in the disorder called tempo disturbato by the
Italians, the bass m ust be the regulator in the ensemble piece in
the same way that the [pianist's] left hand ought to maintain
steadiness in the playing of a sonata. Therefore, the first concern
of the accompanist ought to be to preserve and mark steadiness.
101
BAILLOT, Pierre. L'Art du violon. Nouvelle methode. Paris: Depot

centrale de la musique, 1834, 136-37.
Autre Espece de Syncope appelee temps derobe
II est une maniere d'alterer ou de rompre la mesure qui tient de

la syncope et que l'on appelle tempo rubato ou disturbato. temps
derobe ou trouble, temps derobe est d’u n grand effet, mais il
deviendrait par sa nature, fatigant et insupportable s'il etait souvent
employe. II tend a exprimer le trouble et l'agitation et peu de
compositeurs l'ont note ou indique; le caractere du passage suffit en
general pour pousser l’executant a l’improviser d ’apres l'inspiration
du moment. II ne doit, pour ainsi dire, en faire usage que malgre
lui, lorsqu'entraine par l'expression, elle l'oblige a perdre, en
apparence, toute mesure et a se delivrer ainsi du trouble qui
l'obsede. Nous disons qu'il ne perd la mesure qu'en apparence,
c'est-a-dire, qu'il doit conserver une sorte d'aplomb qui le retienne
dans les limites de l'harmonie du passage et qui le fasse rentrer a
propos dans la mesure exacte des temps. C'est ici le cas
d'appliquer cette observation: "Souvent u n beau desordre est un
effet d l’art."
Ce desordre sera done de nature a plaire, meme a etre trouve
beau; il deviendra un effet de l'art s 'il est le resultat du travail et de
l'inspiration, et si l'artiste l'emploie sans etre oblige de penser aux
moyens dont il se sert.
On peut noter, jusqu'a un certain point cet artifice, mais,
comme tous les accens passionnes, il perdra beaucoup de son effet
a etre execute de sang froid.
Nous ne donnons ici des exemples de ce genre d’accent que
pour eclairer su r son usage et pour empecher ainsi l'abus que l'on
pourrait en faire." [See my Figs. 33 and 34.]
Translation (mine).
Another Type of Syncopation called Temps derobe
Tempo rubato or disturbato (stolen or troubled time) is a

m anner of altering or disturbing the pulse which derives from
syncopation. This "stolen time" is highly effective but, by its nature,
102
would become tiresome and unbearable if it were used often. It

tends to express trouble and agitation, and few composers have
notated or indicated it. In general, the character of the passage
suffices to urge the performer to improvise it upon the inspiration
of the moment. The player ought to make use of it only in spite of
himself, so to speak, when moved by the expression which obliges
him to give the illusion of losing the tempo and of freeing himself
from th a t trouble which obsesses him. Let u s say th at he only
seemingly loses the time. In other words, he ought to preserve a
kind of strictness which keeps him within the limits of the
harmonies of the passage and which makes him return at an
appropriate moment to the exact time. In such cases the following
observation applies: "Often a beautiful disorder is an artistic effect."
This disorder, therefore, should naturally be pleasing if it is to
be found beautiful. It will become an artistic effect if it is the result
of effort and inspiration, and if the performer uses it without being
obliged to think about the means which he is using.
One can notate this device to a certain point, b u t like all
expressive accents, it will lose much of its effect if executed cold-
heartedly. We give now some examples of this sort of accent only to
clarify its use and in order to prevent the abuse that people have
made of it. [See my Figs. 33 and 34.]
GARCIA, Manuel. Traite Complet de L'Art du Chant (Paris, 1847)

Geneva: Minkoff Editeau, 1985, Part II, 24-25.
Temps derobe (tempo rubato). On appelle temps derobe la

prolongation momentanee de valeur que l'on accord a u n o u a
plusieurs sons au detriment des autres.
Cette distribution des valeurs en longues et en breves, en meme
temps qu'elle sert a rompre la monotonie des mouvements egaux,
favorise les elans de la passion [my Fig. 3, 4, 5 and 6].
Pour rendre sensible l'effet du tempo rubato dans le chant, il
faut soutenir avec precision la mesure de l'accompagnement. Le
chanteur, libre, a cette condition, d’augmenter et de diminuer
altemativement les valeurs partielles, pourra donner a certaines
phrases u n relief tout nouveau. Les accellerando et les rallentando
exigent que l’accompagnement et le chant m archent de concert et
103
ralentissent ou accelerent ensemble le mouvement. Le tempo

rubato, au contraire, n ’accorde cette liberte qu’au chant seul. On
commet done une faute grave lorsque, pour rendre avec chaleur les
cadences si animees du duo du Barbiere. on emploie tout a coup le
ritardando su r l'avant-dem iere mesure au lieu d'employer le tempo
rubato [my Fig. 11J.
Par le premier moyen, en recherchant l’enthousiasme, on tombe
dans la gaucherie et la pesanteur.
On accorde cette prolongation aux appoggiatures, aux notes qui
portent la syllabe longue, aux notes naturellement saillantes dans
l'harmonie, ou a celles que l’on veut faire ressortir. Dans tous ces
cas, on regagne le temps perdu en accelerant les autres notes.
C'est un des meilleurs precedes pour donner de la couleur aux
melodies [my Fig. 7 and 8].
Deux artistes d’u n genre tres-different, Garcia (mon pere) et
Paganini, excellaient dans l'emploi du tempo rubato applique par
p hrase. Tandis que l'orchestre soutenait regulierement la mesure,
eux, de leur cote, s'abandonnaient a leur inspiration pour ne se
rencontrer avec la basse qu'a l'instant ou l'accord changeait, ou bien
a la fin meme de la phrase. Mais ce moyen exige avant tout un
sentiment exquis du rhvthme et un aplomb imperturbable. On ne
peut guere employer u n pareil proeede que dans les passages ou
l'harmonie est stable ou legerement variee. Hors ces exceptions, il
paraltrait singulierement d ur a l'oreille et presenterait de grandes
difficultes a l'executant. Voici toutefois une application heureuse de
ce moyen difficile [my Fig. 12].
Le tempo rubato est encore utile sous u n autre rapport; il facilite
la preparation du trille en perm ettant de prendre cette preparation
su r les valeurs qui precedent [my Fig. 9 and 10].
Employe sans discemement et avec affectation, le tempo rubato
aurait pour effet de detruire l’equilibre et de tourmenter la melodie.
Translation (mine).
Temps derobe (tempo rubato). One calls "temps derobe" the

momentary prolongation of value th a t is given to one or several
notes at the expense of others.
104
This distribution of long and short values serves to break up the

monotony of even rhythmic motion, while at the same time,
favoring the expression of strong emotions [my Fig. 3, 4, 5 and 6].
In order to make felt the effect of rubato sensitively in the
melody, one m ust maintain precisely the rhythm of the
accompaniment. The singer, free in this situation alternatively to
lengthen and to shorten the small note values, may throw certain
phrases into bold relief. Accelerandos and rallentandos require the
accompanist and the melody to move simultaneously, th at is,
retarding and speeding up the tempo together. On the contrary,
tempo rubato only grants this liberty in the melody. Therefore, one
commits a serious error when, in order to perform with warmth
the lively cadences as illustrated in the duet from The Barber of
Seville, one suddenly uses a ritardando on the penultimate bar
instead of using tempo rubato [my Fig. 11].
In the first method, seeking enthusiasm, the execution
succumbs to awkwardness and heaviness.
One grants this prolongation to appoggiaturas, to notes which
carry long syllables, to notes salient to the harmony, or to those
notes which one wants to emphasize. In all of these instances, one
regains the lost time by accelerating the other notes. This is one of
the best ways of giving color to melodies [my Fig. 7 and 8].
Two artists of very different sorts, Garcia (my father) and
Paganini, excelled in the use of tempo rubato applied in phrasing.
While the orchestra kept the tempo steady, they, in turn,
surrendered to their own inspiration only to rejoin the bass ju st at
the moment where the harmony changed or even at the end of the
phrase. But this manner requires an exquisite sense of rhythm and
imperturbable composure. One can hardly use a similar method in
passages except where the harmony is stable or slightly varied.
These exceptions aside, it would appear singularly harsh to the ear
and would present great difficulty to the performer. However, here
is a choice example of this difficult manner of execution [my Fig.
12].
Tempo rubato is also useful in other contexts. It facilitates the
preparation of trills by allowing them to take place on the
preceding note [my Fig. 9 and 10].
105
Used without discretion and with affectation, tempo rubato

would have the effect of tormenting the melody and of destroying
its equilibrium.
HASER, A. F. "Uebersicht der Gesangslehre. Drittes Kapitel: Von

Vortrage" Allgemeine Musikalisches Zeitung. Feb. 8, 1822 (#13)
Col. 128.
13. Das sogenannte rubamento di tempo, oder tempo rubato.

welches von manchen Sangem als Mittel des Ausdrucks angewandt
wird, kann in seltenen Fallen und an besonders ausdrucksvollen
Stellen von Wirkung seyn, wenn man es namlich als eine Art
Synkopation betrachtet, die entweder Anticipation oder
Retardation ist, und also es so versteht, dass man in einem und
eben demselben Takte der einen Note etwas von ihrem Werthe
nimmt, was m an der folgenden giebt, oder umgekehrt, oder diess
Verfahren auch wohl auf zwey auf einander folgende Takte
anwendet. Nur bedarf es einer genauen Prufung, ob es an der
gewahlten Stelle sich mit dem Gang, der Bewegung und uberhaupt
der Art der Instrumentation vertrage, und vieler Vorsicht, um nicht
durch oftem Gebrauch monoton zu werden oder wohl gar nach und
nach in vollige TaktwiUkiihr uberzuschweifen: eine sehr uble
Gewohnheit, die m an leider jetzt an vielen, sonst verdienten
Kunstlem, Sangem imd Instrumentisten oft zu bemerken
Gelegenheit hat, da es beynahe zur Mode geworden ist, weit mehr a
piacere als a tempo zu singen und zu spielen, und wohl gar eben
durch diese Willkuhr sein tieferes Gefuhr beurkunden zu wollen.
Es ist freylich nicht vom Concertsanger und noch viel weniger
vom Theatersanger zu fordem, er solle Arien und Duetten so streng
im Takte singen, als waren es Fugen, aber gewiss ist es immer weit
besser, sich an die moglichste Strenge im Takte, als an Willkuhr zu
gewdhnen, da diese so oft, anstatt den beabsichtigten hdhem
Ausdruck zu bewirken, dem Zuhdrer vielmehr eine Art dngstlicher
Furcht vor ganzlicher Taktauflosung erzeugt, die ihm nothwendig
seinen Genuss stdren muss, da femer jene bose Gewohnheit
vorzuglich in Ensemble's sehr schlimme Wirkungen hervorbringt,
un da man endlich zum Anhalten oder Eilen im Zeitmasse an
106
Stellen, die dergleichen verlangen mochten, schon von selbst

gefuhrt wird. Ueberhaupt vermag n u r ein richtiger und feiner
Geschmack die Grenzen zu bestimmen, welche Taktwillkiihr von
ganzlicher Taktlosigkeit trennen, und n u r die strengste
Aufmersamkeit kann die Beobachtung derselben moglich machen.
Translation (mine).
The so-called rubamento di tempo or tempo rubato. which is

appropriated by many singers as a means of expression, can be
employed in rare cases and, especially effectively, in expressive
passages if one regards it as a type of syncopation by anticipation or
retardation and understands it as taking away the value from one
note and giving it to the following note (in one and the same bar),
or, when one applies this treatm ent to two consecutive bars. A
close examination is needed to determine whether it suits the
general feeling, tempo and kind of instrum ents of a particular
passage, and a good deal of caution [is needed] in order not to get
either monotonous or totally wayward in the tempo. A very bad
habit, practically a fashion now and noticeable quite often among
well-known artists, singers and instrumentalists, is singing and
playing a piacere rather than a tempo in order to reveal their
deeper feelings.
It is certainly not required of the concert singer and still less of
the theater singer who should sing arias and duets strictly in time,
as if they were fugues. Indeed, it is certainly better th at he
accustom himself to the exactness of time than to arbitrariness,
since this produces in the listener rather than the intended
expression, an anxious fear of disintegration of the beat altogether.
Furthermore, this bad habit produces very unpleasant effects,
particularly in ensembles because in the end a player would be left
to his own devices in the holding back and hurrying of time in
passages which would require it. Only correct and fine taste which
distinguishes tempo flexibility from a more complete tempo
waywardness is capable of determining its limits and only the
strictest observance can make its execution possible.
107
KOCH, Heinrich Christoph. "Ueber den technischen Ausdruck:

Tempo rubato." Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung. May 11, 1808
(#33) Cols. 513-19.
Man bemerkt sehr oft, dass die meisten Tonkiinstler und

Dilettanten, bey Gelegenheit des Gesprachs uber die in modemen
Tonstucken gebrachliche Art der Ruckung, welche die Theorie mit
dem Kunstausdriicke Tempo rubato bezeichnet, sich statt dieses
technischen Ausdrucks einer weitlauftigen und oft sehr
unbestim m ten oder verworrenen Umschreibung der Sache
bedienen, oder auch den Ausdruck da gebrauchen, wohin er nicht
gehort: beydes aber zeigt, man sey uber die Sache nicht im Klaren.
Die Ursache hiervon mag nun entweder diese seyn, dass es
verschiedene Gattungen des Tempo rubato giebt, und dass man
dabey nicht aufmerksam genug auf ihre gemeinschaftlichen
Kennzeichen ist, um sie auf den Begriff der Sache iiberhaupt
anzuwenden, oder dass man mehr an den Nebenbegriff denkt, den
m an mit diesem Ausdrucke ehedem, besonders in der Berliner
Schule, verbunden hat, und den man mit der jetzt gewohnlichen
Ansicht der Sache nicht vereinigen kann; so wird weder in diesem,
noch in jenem Falle eine kurze Uebersicht dieses Gegenstandes
ganz uberfliissig seyn.
Es ist bekannt, dass einige Noten jedes Taktes ein gewisses
Gewicht haben, welches den ubrigen mangelt, und dass man dieses
Gewicht den grammatischen Accent zu nennen pflegt. Dieser
Accent oder dieses Taktgewicht fallt (so lange namlich keine
vorsatzliche Verruckung desselben vorhanden ist, ) bey den
Hauptnoten des Taktes jederzeit auf die im Niederschlage
stehenden Noten, bey der Zergliederung dieser Haupttheile des
Taktes in Noten von geringerem Werthe aber jederzeit auf
diejenigen, die au f den Anschlag der Takttheile oder Taktglieder
fallen. Daher haben z.B. in den folgenden Satzen n u r die mit einem
Kreuzchen bezeichneten Noten diesen Accent, und von denen,
welchen dieses Gewicht mangelt, pflegt m an zu sagen, sie stehen
im Durchgange oder im Nachschlage (Fig. 48).
108
Wird n u n dieser grammatische Accent oder dieses Taktgewicht

einigemal unmittelbar nach einander den im Anschlage stehenden
Noten entwendet, und auf die im Nachschlage stehenden
ubergetragen, so wird diese Art der Verruckung des Taktgewichts
mit dem Ausdrucke Tempo rubato (entwendetes Zeitmaas)
bezeichnet.
Man verstehet demnach unter dem technischen Ausdrucke
Tempo rubato eine mehrmals unmittelbar nach einander folgende
Verruckung des Taktgewichts. Diese Verruckung kann auf drey
verschiedene Arten geschehen, und daher entwickeln sich drey
besondere Gattungen des Tempo rubato (*); namlich,
1) wenn bey einer Folge von (mehrentheils gleichaitigen) Noten
die im Anschlage stehenden schwach, die im Nachschlage
stehenden hingegen stark intonirt werden, so dass dadurch das
Taktgewicht auf die unaccentuirten Noten ubergetragen wird [my
Fig. 391. Hierzu gehort auch der Fall, in welchem vermittelst einer
in alien vorhandenen Stimmen auf das gute Taktglied fallenden
Pause der Accent auf den Nachschlag verdrangt wird [my Fig. 40].
2) wenn man einen melodischen Satz dergestalt nachahmt, dass
ihn die nachahm ende Stimme in dem entgegengesetzten
Takttheile oder Taktgliede vortragt, wie z.B. in den beyden
folgenden Satzen [my Fig. 41 and 42].
Dieses Processes bedient man sich eigentlich nur in der Fuge,
oder in einem der Fuge ahnlichen Tonstticke.
Endlich entwickelt sich diese Verruckung des Taktgewichts
auch
3) wenn ein melodischer Theil, welcher der BeschafFenheit
seiner grammatischen Accente zu Folge in die gerade Taktart
gehort, wie z.B. der Satz bey a [my Fig. 43], in einer ungeraden
Taktart, wie bey b [Fig. 43], gebraucht wird, oder umgekehrt, wenn
m an einen melodischen Theil, der eigentlich der ungeraden
Taktart eigen ist, wie der Satz bey c [Fig. 43], in einer geraden
Taktart anwendet, wie bey d [Fig. 43].
In diesem Falle entstehet die unmittelbare Folge der
Verruckung des Taktgewichts aus der Vermischung der geraden
und ungeragen Taktart, und diese Gattung der Ruckung ist nicht
allein diejenige, die man im engsten Sinne des Wortes mit Tempo
rubato bezeichnet, weil der melodischen Theil, der diese
Ruckungen veranlasst, aus einer entgegengesetzten Taktart
entwendet ist, sondem sie ist auch diejenige, bey welcher die
109
Verruckung des Taktgewichts am scharfsten auf under Gefuhl

wirkt, und die seither in den Tonstucken oft (von einigen
Tonsetzem sogar bis zur Ueberladung) gebraucht worden ist.
Jos. Haydn und Dittersdorf waren die ersten, die sich dieser
Gattung des Tempo rubato in der Menuet, jedoch immer mit
weiser Sparsamkeit, bedienten.
Der Zweck dieser Ruckung ist theils, imd vorzuglich, zu
frappiren, stark zu reizen, theils braucht man sie auch zuweilen, um
einen unmittelbar darauf folgenden Satz, vermittelst des
Kontrastes, durch sein wieder eintretendes regulares Taktgewicht
m ehr herauszuheben.
Ehedem, imd besonders in der ehemaligen Berliner Schule,
verband m an mit dem Ausdrucke Tempo rubato einen
NebenbegrifF, und verstand darunter diejenige Vortragsart dieser
oder jener cantabeln Stelle einer Solostimme, bey welcher der
Spieler mit Vorsatz von der angenommenen Bewegung des
Zeitmaasses und von der gewohnlichen Eintheilung der
Notengattungen abwich, und die melodischen Tonfolgen gleichsam
ohne alle bestimmte Zeiteintheilimg vortrug, wahrend dabey die
Begleitung auf das strengste im Zeitmaasse fortspielte. Unter
andem bediente sich dieser Vortragsart, als einen besondem
Ausdrucksmittels, oft Franz Benda in den Adagiosatzen seiner
Konzerte und Sonaten. Ob es nun gleich anjetzt noch hin und
wieder taktfeste Virtuosen giebt, die sich zuweilen einer ahnlichen
Vortragsart mit Vortheil bedienen, imd sich (wohl zu merkenl) ganz
unvermerkt wieder m it der in der Taktbewegung richtig
fortgehenden Begleitung zu vereinigen wissen: so geschieht es
dennoch gewohnlich n u r mit einer weit weniger merklichen
Abweichung von dem Zeitmaasse, als ehedem, so dass man
behaupten kann, jene Art diese Vortrags sey heut zu Tage, der
Hauptsache nach imd die angegebenen geringen Einschrankungen
zugestanden veraltet, und unter den vorzuglichen Virtuosen nicht
m ehr gebrSuchlich. Auch mochte wol die Hinteransetzung dieser
Vortragsart fur die Kunst weit mehr vortheilhaft, als nachtheilig
seyn, und zwar theils deswegen, well die modemen Komponisten
die Melodie der Adagiosatze ihrer Konzerte vollig ausarbeiten,
keineswegs aber sie gleichsam n u r als Skelet darstellen, wie die
dltem Tonsetzer, welche die Ausbildung derselben gemeiniglich
dem Solospieler uberliessen; theils und besonders auch deswegen,
110
weil die Nachahmungssucht die Granzlinie sehr leicht

iiberschreitet, ausserhalb welcher diese Spielart zur Lacherlichkeit
und zum Unsinne herabsinkt.
Footnote (*): Genau genommen sollten auch diejenigen
Ruckungen, die entweder durch die regulare Auffuhrung einer
unmittelbaren Folge von Dissonanzen nach den Gesetzen der
strengen Schreibart entstehen, wie„ bey a [my Fig. 44], oder die
durch den Gebrauch der sogennanten Anticipation oder
Retardation zum Vorscheine kommen, wie bey b [Fig. 44], ebenfalls
zu den Gattungen des Tempo rubato gerechnet werden; denn auch
in diesen Fallen wird das Taktgewicht mehrmals unm ittelbar nach
einander verruckt. Weil aber 1) diese Arten der Ruckung nicht
immer so wie bey a und b unmittelbar nach einander, sondem in
den mehresten Fallen n u r entweder einzeln, wie bey c [Fig. 45],
oder auch mit einem dazwischen unverruckten Accente, wie bey d
[Fig. 45] gebraucht werden, so dass dabey eine wesentliche
Eigenschaft des Tempo rubato, namlich die unmittelbare Folge der
Ruckung wegfallt, und weil 2) durch den taglichen Gebrauch
derselben das Gefuhl der Verruckung des Taktgewichts gleichsam
abgestumpft ist, so ist man nicht gewohnt, diese Arten der
Ruckung zu den Gattungen des Tempo rubato zu zahlen, sondem
man rechnet dazu n u r die oben angezeigten, bey welchen die
Uebertragung des Accents auf die im Nachschlage stehenden Noten
das Gefuhl starker auspricht.
Translation (mine).
One notices very often that, given the opportunity to discuss the
current m anner of displacement in modem musical composition
which is characterized by technical term Tempo rubato, most
artists and am ateurs resort to a complicated and often uncertain or
confused translation of the term and/or use the expression in a
place where it does not belong. However, both usages indicate that
people are not clear about the matter.
The reason for this may be that either there are different types
of Tempo rubato and th at one is therefore not conversant enough
with the common features upon which it is generally dependent,
or, that one thinks more about its subsidiary factor that was
formerly associated with the expression, especially in the Berlin
school, and th at one cannot reconcile it with the current general
111
notion of the term. Thus, neither in this case nor in the other
cases would â short review of this subject be entirely superfluous.
It is knoTjvn that some notes of each measure receive a certain
emphasis th at others lack. One tends to call this emphasis
grammatical accent. As long as no deliberate displacement exists,
this accent or metric accentuation occurs on the main note of the
measure which is situated at the downbeat. And when division of
the main p art of the beat into notes of smaller value occurs, then
the accent falls each time on the same main part of the b ar or beat.
Thus, for example, in the following phrases only those notes
bearing a little cross receive this stress. One is accustomed to say
th a t they stand at the beginning of the bar or on the downbeat (Fig.
48). + + + ♦ +
pfeSfea t f -f ir-L ii£ rg

When these grammatical accents (or metric accentuation) are
shifted a few times In a row to the upbeats and the downbeat accent
is transferred to those upbeat notes, this m anner of displacement is
labeled by the term Tempo rubato (entwendetes Zeitmaas).
Accordingly, one understands by the technical expression
Tempo rubato a series of displaced metric accents. This
displacement can occur in different ways, and, therefore, three
distinct types of Tempo rubato developed*: namely,
1) when a succession of equally divided notes whose downbeats
are executed weak and whose upbeats are executed strongly so th at
the weight of the bar is transferred to the unaccented notes [my
Fig. 39). Also, belonging to this case is one in which rests fall on
strong beats in all of the participating voices, displacing the accent
to the weak beat [my Fig. 40).
2) when a melodic phrase is imitative in such a way that the
second voice gets transferred to the opposite p art of the measure
or beat, as, for example in the following two passages [Fig. 41 and
42). This procedure is only used In fugues or in contrapuntal
pieces.
Finally, this type of displacement of metric accent also
developed.
3) when a melodic part, which by the nature of its grammatical
accent, belongs to an even meter as, for example, the phrase a [my
112
Fig. 43], in an uneven meter, as in b [Fig. 43], or, vice versa: when a
melodic part in an odd meter, as in c [Fig. 43] employs an even
meter, as in d [Fig. 43].
In this case, the immediate succession of displaced metric
accents results in a mixture of even and odd meter, and this sort of
shifting is not only the same one known as Tempo rubato in the
narrowest sense of the meaning (since the melodic part which
causes these dislocations is taken from an opposite meter) b ut is
also the same by which accentual displacement most sharply affects
our rhythmic sense and which up to now is often employed in
musical composition (by some composers even to the excess).
Joseph Haydn and Dittersdorf were the first to use this notion
of Tempo rubato in minuets, judiciously and sparingly.
The purpose of this displacement is partly and foremost to
surprise and to excite the listener intensely, and partly, one makes
use of it occasionally to throw more into relief the returning
appearance of the regular accentuation by contrast.
Formerly, and especially in the old Berlin school, one associated
the expression Tempo rubato with a secondary idea and understood
by this same device the manner of execution in cantabile passages
of a solo voice by which a player intentionally deviates from the
present motion of the tempo and from the normal division of the
notes. The melodic line was executed, as it were, without any clear
rhythmic division while the accompaniment continued along in the
strictest of time. Among others, Franz Benda often used this kind of
execution as a special expressive means in the adagio movements of
his concertos and sonatas. Although it still lends itself now and
then to the rhythmically sound virtuosi, who occasionally and
advantageously use a similar kind of execution and who (probably
for show) know how to return surreptitiously to the orderly
conduct of the accompanimental motion, it usually appears now
with a far less noticeable deviation from the tempo than formerly.
Therefore, it can be stated th at this type of Tempo rubato execution
is presently considered old-fashioned and is no longer customary
among virtuosi of the high order. Therefore, the negject of this
kind of performance would be far more advantageous than
detrimental to the art, partly for the reason th at composers
nowadays completely compose out the melody in the adagio
113
movements of their concertos, by no means are they only sketched,

as it were, like a skeleton as did the old composers who usually left
the elaboration to the solo player; and, partly and especially,
because the search for novelty very easily goes beyond the limit
permitting this kind of playing to fall prey to the ridiculous and the
absurd.
Koch's footnote (*) reads: Those displacements should also be
strictly considered which are effected by either the regular
execution of a series of dissonances according to the rules of strict
composition as in a [my Fig. 441, or by the use of so-called
Anticipation or Retardation as in b [Fig. 44]. Consequently, these
types are to be reckoned among the notions of Tempo rubato since,
in these cases, the metric accent is disturbed several times in a
row. Since (1) the means of displacement as in a and b do not
always immediately follow one another, b u t in the majority of cases
either only one occurs as in c [Fig. 45] or where regular
accentuation is interspersed as in d [Fig. 45], so th at the essential
characteristic of Tempo rubato, namely, the immediate succession
of displacements, is abolished; and, in which (2) the feeling of
disturbance of metric accent is abolished through too common use
of the same. One includes in the notion of Tempo rubato only the
types shown above in which accents are strongly applied to upbeats.
QUANTZ, Johann Joachim. Versuch einer Anweisung die Flote

traversiere zu Spielen. Third edition of Breslau, 1789) Facsimile
Edition. Kassel: Barenreiter Verlag, 1953, 225.
Wenn der Accompagnist im Zeitmaasse nicht recht sicher ist, und

sich entweder bey dem Tempo rubato, und durch das Verziehen
der Manieren, welches eine Schonheit im Spielen ist, zum Zogem,
oder, wenn an statt einer Pause die folgende Note vorausgenommen
wird, zum Eilen verleiten lasst; kann er den Solospieler nicht nur
au s seinem Concepte bringen; sondem er versetzet ihn auch in ein
Mistrauen gegen ihn, den Accompagnisten; und m acht ihn
furchtsam, weiter etwas mit Verwegenheit und Freyheit zu
untem ehm en.
114
Translation by Edward R. Reilly, On Plaving the Flute. New York:

Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1975, 252-53, par. 7.
If the accompanist is not secure in tempo, if he allows himself

to be beguiled into dragging in the tempo rubato, or when the
player of the principal part retards several notes in order to give
some grace to the execution, or if he allows himself to rush the
tempo when the note following a rest is anticipated, then he not
only startles the soloist, b u t arouses his mistrust and makes him
afraid to undertake anything else with boldness and freedom.
TURK, Daniel Gottlob. Klavierschule oder Anweisung zum

Klavierspielen fur Lehrer und Lemende. Leipzig, 1789. Faksimile-
Nachdruck. ed. by Erwin R. Jacobi. Kassel: Barenreiter, 1962.
Turk (323-24): Die Veranderung sind auf verschiedene Art

moglich. Man setzt namlich zu den vorgeschriebenen Noten noch
mehrere hinzu, wie bey a (my Fig. 21], (dies geschieht am
haufigsten, aber nicht immer zweckmassig, ) oder m an verandert
die vorgeschreibene Figur in eine andere, die aus eben so vielen
Noten besteht b IFig. 21]. Femer wird zuweilen die Anzahl der
Noten vermindert £ [Fig. 21]; wiewohl dies letztere in Tonstticken,
welche fur das Klavier bestimmt sind, selten zu geschehen pflegt.
Auch verandert man durch das so genannte Verrucken *) der
Noten, wenn namlich einige verlangert, andere dagegen verkurzt
werden d. (Fig. 21]. Ausserdem giebt es noch mancherley andere
Mittel zum Verandem z. B. abwechselnde Starke und Schwache,
Schleifen, Abstossen, Tragen der Tone u. dgl. m. Footnote (*): Dies
Verrucken der Noten oder Takttheile u. besonders in dem zweyten
Beyspiele d), wird in dem folgenden Kapitel auch unter dem
Ausdrucke Tempo rubato vorkommen.
Welche Art zu verandem die bessere ist, hangt von den
jedesmaligen Umstanden ab, und kann daher nicht genau bestimmt
werden; doch will ich sogleich Eines und das Andere daruber
bemerken.
115
Translation by Raymond H. Haggh, School of Keyboard Plaving.

Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1982, 311, par. 23.
Variations are possible in a number of ways. Namely, one adds

still more notes to those given as in a Isee my Fig. 21] (this happens
most of the time b ut it is not always appropriate), or one changes
the given figures into others which have the same number of tones
(b) [Fig. 211. Further, the number of notes is a t times reduced (c)
[Fig. 21], although this does not customarily occur very often in
compositions for the clavichord [keyboard]. It is also possible to
vary by displacing* the notes, as when some are lengthened and
others shortened (d) [Fig. 21]. There are additional ways of varying,
for example, by alternating loud and soft, by slurring, by detaching
the notes, by sustaining them [Tragen der Tone], and the like.
Footnote (*): This displacement of notes or beats, particularly in
the second example of d, will be discussed in the following chapter
under the heading of tempo rubato.
TURK (374-76): Das so genannte Tempo rubato oder robato

(eigentlich gestohlnes Zeitmass) bestimmte ich #63 als das letztere
Mittel, dessen Anwendung dem Gefuhle und der Einsicht des
Spielers uberlassen wird. Dieser Ausdruck kommt in mehr als
Einer Bedeutung vor. Gemeiniglich versteht m an darunter eine Art
von Verkurzung und Verlangerung der Noten, oder ein Verrucken
(Versetzen) derselben. Es wird namlich Einer Note etwas von
ihrer Dauer entzogen, (gestohlen), und dafiir einer Andem so viel
mehr gegeben, wie in den nachstehenden Beyspielen b) und c).
Bey a) [my Fig. 22] sind die simpeln Noten, bey b) [Fig. 22] ist
das Tempo rubato durch eine Vorausnahme fanticipatio) u n bey c)
[Fig. 22] durch eine Verzogerung (retardio) angebracht. Man sieht
hieraus, dass durch diesen Vortrag das Zeitmass oder vielmehr der
Takt im Ganzen nicht verrucket wird. Foglich ist der gewohnliche,
aber etwas zweydeutige deutsche Ausdruck: verrucktes Zeitmass.
nicht passend; denn die Grundstimme geht ihren Gang taktmassig
(unverruckt) weiter, n u r die Noten der Melodie werden gleichsam
aus der ihnen zukommenden Stelle verschoben. Daher ware
viellicht der Ausdruck: das Versetzen (oder Verziehen) der Noten
oder Taktglieder u. richtiger. Sogar wenn in der Melodie mehrere
116
Noten hinzu gesetzt werden, wie in der folgenden Beyspielen e)

und f) [Fig. 22], m ussen doch jederzeit beym Anfange des Taktes
beyde Stimmen wieder richtig zusammen treffen. Es entsteht also
auch in diesem Falle kein wirkliches Verrucken des Zeitmasses.
Dieses Tonverziehen. wie es sonst auch genannt wird, m uss
sehr behutsam angewandt werden, weil leicht Fehler in der
Harmonie durch entsteht konnen. Das Voraushenmen in dem
Beyspiele f) [Fig. 22] ware n u r .etwa in zeimlich langsamer
Bewegung ertraglich.
Ausser der angezeigten Bedeutung des Tempo rubato versteht
m an unter diesem Ausdrucke zuweilen auch n u r eine besondere Art
des Vortrages, wenn namlich der Accent, welcher den guten Noten
zukommt, auf die schlechten verlegt wird, oder mit andem Worten:
wenn m an die Tone auf dem schlechten Takttheile u. starker
vortragt, als diejenigen, welche in die gute Zeit des Taktes (oder
einer Note) fallen, wie in diesen Beyspielen [my Fig. 36].
Noch eine Gattung von Tempo rubato wird von den
Komponisten selbst vorgeschrieben, z.B. in Pergolesi's Stabat mater
[my Fig. 37] oder wohl gar auf folgende Art [my Fig. 38]
Freyheiten, oder vielmehr Verzerrungen, die dem Spieler ohne
ausdruckliche Vorschrift des Komponisten, nicht wohl erlaubt
werden konnen.
Translation by Raymond H. Haggh, School of Keyboard Playing.

Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1982, 363-65, par. 72.
The so-called tempo rubato or robato (actually stolen time) I

have specified in #63 as the third resource whose application
should be left to the sensitivity and insight of the player. This term
appears with more than one meaning. Commonly it is understood
as a kind of shortening or lengthening of notes, or the
displacement (dislocation) of these. There is something taken away
(stolen) from the duration of a note and for this, another note is
given th at m uch more, as in the following examples i> and £ [see my
Fig. 22].
At a [my Fig. 22] are the basic notes, at b [Fig. 22] tempo rubato
is p u t to use by means of the anticipation and at £ [Fig. 22] by means
of the retardation. From this it can be seen that through this kind
of execution, the tempo, or even more, the meter as a whole is not
117
displaced. Consequently, the customary b ut somewhat ambiguous

German term vem icktes Zeitmass [displaced tempo] is not very
fitting, for the bass voice goes its way according to the meter
(without displacement), and only the notes of the melody are
moved out of place, as it were. For this reason the expression
Versetzen or Verziehen [changing the place of--or—dragging out]
the notes or the beat divisions would be more correct. Even when
more notes are added to the melody, as in the examples e and f
[Fig. 22] both voices m ust nevertheless correctly coincide each
time at the beginning of the measure. In this case then there
results no actual displacement of the tempo.
This dragging out of notes [Tonverziehenl. as it is otherwise
called, m ust be applied with great care, because errors in the
harmony could result. The anticipating in example f [Fig. 22] would
only be bearable in rather slow tempo.
Besides the indicated meaning of tempo rubato, this term is
sometimes also understood to mean only a special kind of execution
in which the accent that should fall on the strong notes is placed
on the weak ones, or in other words, when the notes which fall on
the weak beats are played louder than those which fall on the
strong beats as in the following example [my Fig. 36].
Still another type of tempo rubato is prescribed by the
composer himself, for example in Pergolesi's Stabat Mater [my Fig.
37].
Or probably even in the following m anner [my Fig. 38].
Liberties--or rather distortions--by the player should probably
not be allowed unless they are expressly prescribed by the
composer.
l
WOLF, Ernest Wilhelm. Musikalisches Unterricht Vol. 1. Dresden:
Hilscherschen Musikverlage, 1787, 34-35.
Tonverziehung (Tempo rubato): Diese Manier besteht sowohl

im Vorausnehmen, als im Aufhalten der Tone. Sie wird
meistentheils als Setzmanier gebraucht. Nur geschikte Virtuosen,
Sanger, oder Spieler, bringen sie mit gutem Erfolg als Sing- oder
Spielmanier da an, wo die T6ne des zum Grunde liegenden
118
Akkords von der Begleitung nur in Noten von gleicher Dauer

angeschlagen werden.
Gesetzt m an will folgende Melodie (Rr) [my Fig. 291 durch die
Tonverziehung verandem; so wird es durch das Aufhalten der Tone
so (Ss) [my Fig. 29a], durch das Vorausnehmen derselben aber
ohngefahr also geschehen mussen (Tt) [my Fig. 29b].
Hierzu konnen die ungeraden Taktglieder gerechnet werden,
als Vv [my Fig. 29c].
Die Quintole thut bey folgenden Fallen gut (Ww) [my Fig. 49
below].
Diese Manier, so wie sie hier zuletzt vorkommt, wird auch als
Spielmanier gebraucht. Man giebt ihr den Namen Rolle und
bezeichnet sie mit einem unveranderlichen Vorschlage auf der
Linie der Hauptnote, und mit dem Zeichen des Doppelschlags von
oben druber oder drunter (Xx) [Fig. 49 below].
Bey folgendem Fall und bey ahnlichen Fallen ist die Septole mit
Vortheil zu brachen (Yy) Fig. 49 below],
Dergleichen ungerade Taktglieder kann man am rechten Orte,
statt der Hauptnote setzen, singen und spielen, so viel die Dauer
der Hauptnote erlaubt; man kann einen und mehrere Takte damit
anfullen, wie meine, und Bachs Klaviersonaten, auch einige
Violinsolo's von Franz Benda beweisen.
Zu mehrerer Deutlichkeit setze ich ein Beyspiel hierher, das
zugleich m it chromatischen Tonstufen-Folgen geschmtikt ist (Zz)
[my Fig. 47].
Translation (mine).
Tonverziehung (Tempo rubato). This ornament consists in the

anticipation and retardation of notes, for the most part set by the
composer. Only skillful virtuosos, singers and players successfully
realize it in performance, where the notes of the bass
accompaniment are set in notes of equal value to those in the vocal
line.
Supposing th at one wanted to change the following melody (Rr)
[my Fig. 29] by tone displacement, it m ust correctly be done in this
manner: by retardation (Ss) [my Fig. 29a]; by anticipation (Tt) [my
Fig. 29b].
One can reckon uneven divisions with this, as in Vv [my Fig.
29c].
119
Quintuplets serve well in the following cases (Ww) [see my Fig.

49 below].
This ornament, as it appears in the last case, is also used well in
performance. One calls it the Rolle ["figure"] and one indicates it
with an appoggiatura on the line of the main note and with the sign
of the tu rn over or under it (Xx) [Fig. 49 below].
In the following example and in similar ones, the septuplet is
advantageously used (Yy) [Fig. 49 below].
One can compose, sing and play with correctness such uneven
divisions in place of the main note as much as the time value of the
main note permits. One can continue this for one or several beats
as do my keyboard sonatas, [C.P.E.] Bach's and also some violin
pieces of Franz Benda.
For the sake of clarity, I have set an example which is
subsequently decorated in the above m anner with chromaticism
(Zz) [my Fig. 47].
For a similar definition of tempo rubato by Wolf see E. Ligon's thesis

"An Edition of E rnst Wilhelm Wolf[f]'s Vier Affectvolle Sonaten und
Ein Drevzehnmal Variirtes Thema." Vol. 1, 58-59.
5"
•-h Ff=J
^ 'r - i h ^ s -T-i —LJ----- UIJ r r
'i
M elody eû in tu ftet Melody gutiu pfch
__ p__
= $ = f= £ = fE
* r f i
M elo d tj Chongid by gmrrfuplefc
y ^ , |■ , | f , i — H— U
A dagio 'y ,
Ifrrfrm l r
Melody Variedion
Fig. 49. Wolfs examples.
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INFORMATION TO USERS

The negative microfilm copy of th is dissertation w as prepared an d inspected by the

The following explanation of techniques is provided to help clarify notations which

1. M anuscripts may not always be complete. When it is not possible to obtain

3. Oversize m aterials (maps, drawings, and charts) are photographed by sec­

4. Most photographs reproduce acceptably on positive microfilm or micro­

Tempo rubato in the eighteenth century

Blake, Carl LeRoy, D.M.A.

C opyright © 1988 b y B lake, Carl LeRoy. A ll rights reserved.

Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Musical Arts

Carl LeRoy Blake

Carl LeRoy Blake was bom September 25, 1951 in Liberty,

I would like to express gratitude to members of my special

1. Caccini, Le nuove musiche (1602), Preface 8

1. G. Telemann, Largo from Trio No. 3 in g in Mather and

2. W. Mozart, Andante from Piano Concerto in C. K. 503.

3. P. Hoffmann's embellished version of Mozart's Andante from

4. J. Haydn, Allegro from Piano Sonata in C, Hob. XIV: 50 in

5. W. Mozart, Adagio from Piano Sonata in c, K. 457 in The

6. W. Mozart, Adagio from Piano Sonata in F, K. 332 in The

7. W. Mozart, Adagio from Piano Sonata in F, K. 332 in The

8. W. Mozart, Rondo in a . K. 511. Neue Mozart Ausgabe. Ser. IX:

9. W. Mozart, Rondo in a. K. 511. Neue Mozart Ausgabe. Ser. IX:

11. C. Graun, Recitative "Nun klingen Waffen" from Per Tod

12. A. Vivaldi, "Usignuoli che Piangete" from L'Usignuolo in

13. W. Mozart, Rondo in a . K. 511. Neue Mozart Ausgabe. Ser. IX:

14. W. Mozart, Allegro from Piano Sonata in F, K. 332 in The

15. M. Clementi, Allegro from Piano Sonata in g, "Didone

16. L. Beethoven, Adagio grazioso from Piano Sonata in G,

17. L. Beethoven, Adagio grazioso from Piano Sonata in G,

18. C. Bach, Tempo di Minuetto from Piano Sonata B-flat,

19. C. Bach, Allegro moderato from Piano Sonata in c, Wq. 5 0 /6

21. C. Bach, Tempo di Minuetto from Piano Sonata in B-flat,

22. C. Bach, Larghetto from Piano Sonata in B-flat, Wq. 5 0 /5 in

23. C. Bach, Allegretto grazioso from Piano Sonata in d,

24. C. Bach, Adagio sostenuto from Piano Sonata in B-flat,

25. C. Bach, Adagio sostenuto from Piano Sonata in d,

26. J. Hummel, Adagio from Piano Sonata in D, Op. 106 in

27. J . Hummel, Larghetto a capriccio [Adagio] from Piano

28. F. Chopin, Larghetto from Piano Concerto in f. Op. 21.

29. F. Chopin, Larghetto from Piano Concerto in f. Op. 21.

31. W. Mozart, Adagio from Piano Sonata in c, K. 457 in The

32. W. Mozart, Adagio from Piano Concerto in B-flat, K. 595 in

33. Embellishment of Ex. 32 by Abbe von Stadler [?] in W. A.

34. C. Bach, Allegro from Piano Sonata in c, Wq. 5 0 /6 in Sechs

35. C. Bach, Allegro from Piano Sonata in c, Wq. 5 0 /6 in Sechs

36. C. Bach, Allegro from Piano Sonata in c, Wq. 5 0 /6 in Sechs

37. W. Mozart, Larghetto from Piano Concerto in B-flat, K. 595

38. C. Blake's embellishment of Ex. 37. 93

39. F. Chopin, Prelude No. 1 in C from The Preludes fOp. 281.

41. C. Bach, Allegro from Piano Sonata in c, Wq. 5 0 /6 in Sechs

42. W. Mozart, Larghetto from Piano Concerto in B-flat, K. 595

43. W. Mozart, Adagio from Piano Sonata in c, K. 457 in The

44. J . Haydn, Andante from Piano Sonata in e. Hob. XVI: 22 in

45. F. Benda. Presto scherzando from Sonata in A for

46. C. Bach, Allegro from Piano Sonata in c, Wq. 5 0 /6 in Sechs

J u s t as there is a great distance between grammar and

In musical parlance, tempo rubato is a curious and fugitive

from the other. For instance, in the sixth chapter of Turk’s

Among these (extraordinary means of expression! I

Such questions as the following remain to be raised and

3. Oversize m aterials (maps, drawings, and charts) are photographed by sec

4. Most photographs reproduce acceptably on positive microfilm or micro

Many, who have no idea of taste, never retain the even