Largo Tempo: Meaning and BPM Range

What does largo mean in music?

Largo is an instruction to play slowly with a broad, spacious sound. The Italian adjective means “broad” or “wide”, from the Latin largus (abundant, generous). It does not mean “large” in the English sense of size.

The breadth refers to the phrase. A largo melody is sustained, full in tone and unhurried, with each note given its complete length. Where lento names slowness alone, largo adds dignity and space. It sits in the slow end of the family of Italian tempo terms and their BPM ranges.

How many BPM is largo?

About 40 to 60 BPM in commonly cited modern charts. At 50 BPM, a typical largo, each quarter-note beat lasts 1,200 ms and an eighth note lasts 600 ms.

60 BPM, the top of the range, is exactly one beat per second. The BPM to ms chart lists dotted and triplet values for any of these tempos.

Largo vs larghetto

Larghetto is a little faster than largo, at about 60–66 BPM. The suffix -etto makes a diminutive: “a little broad”, so less broad and therefore quicker.

The two words are often confused because of one famous aria. “Ombra mai fu”, the opening aria of Handel’s opera Serse (1738), is widely known as “Handel’s Largo”, yet the score marks it larghetto. The nickname comes from later instrumental arrangements. The case shows why a title and a tempo marking are not the same thing.

Largo, grave, lento and adagio compared

Grave is slower than largo, lento is almost the same speed, and adagio is faster. The four words differ as much in character as in BPM.

Largo and lento share the 45–60 BPM band. Composers choose largo when the music should sound wide and sustained, and lento when the instruction is simply to go slowly. The neighbors have their own guides: grave, the heavy tempo below largo, and adagio, the calm tempo above it.

Qualifiers used with largo

A second word adjusts the speed or names the mood of a largo. These combinations appear in published scores:

• Largo ma non tanto — broad, but not too much; the faster side of the range.
• Largo assai — very broad; the slow side of the range.
• Largo e mesto — broad and sad.
• Largo, con gran espressione — broad, with great expression.

How to count a largo steadily

Count and click in eighth notes at double the tempo, then return to the quarter-note click. At 50 BPM the eighth-note click runs at 100 BPM, one click every 600 ms, which is easy to follow.

1. Set the metronome to twice the largo tempo, for example 100 BPM for a largo at 50.
2. Play the passage counting “1-and-2-and” so every eighth note lines up with a click.
3. Halve the metronome to the real largo tempo and keep counting the “and” silently.
4. Hold every long note until the next click; a broad largo loses its shape when sustained notes are cut short.

Slow tempos expose small timing errors more than fast ones, because each beat leaves more silence to fill. The metronome exercises for slow practice include drills for exactly this problem.

Famous pieces marked largo

Largo heads some of the best-known slow movements in the orchestral and Baroque repertoire.

• Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 in E minor “From the New World”, Op. 95 — second movement, Largo, with its English horn solo.
• Vivaldi, “Winter” from The Four Seasons — second movement, Largo.
• Bach, Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043 — second movement, Largo ma non tanto.
• Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10 No. 3 — second movement, Largo e mesto.