adagio
/əˈdɑː(d)ʒɪəʊ
/Music
adverb & adjective
(Especially as a direction) in slow time.During one adagio segment, solemn bells signal an ominous invasion, which soon occurs: strings swoop down like winged demons from a Gustave Doré print - several times....
- Bagger's vivacious approach underscores the dance character of these pieces and when he drops the tempo, it falls rarely below adagio and not for long.
- Peter Sheppard Skærved, who writes the compendious notes, wonders if Beethoven himself might have written the adagio variation.
noun (plural adagios)
A movement, passage, or composition marked to be performed adagio.The striking thing about this album is the range of styles he dabbles in - from grand bossa novas to soft adagios....
- For the slow movement, Simpson acknowledges his debt to Bruckner's adagios.
- In performing these youthful works, the Angeles String Quartet played with such deft skill, there was an abundance of dulcet adagios, energetic allegros, and gracious minuets.
Origin
Italian, from ad agio 'at ease'.