Vivace Tempo: Meaning and BPM Range

What does vivace mean?

Vivace is an instruction to play in a lively, spirited way at a fast tempo. The Italian adjective means “lively” or “vivacious”, from the Latin vivax (full of life). It is pronounced vee-VAH-cheh.

Vivace describes energy first and speed second. A vivace passage should sparkle, with crisp articulation and rhythmic drive. In the list of tempo markings and their speeds it fills the step between allegro and presto.

What BPM is vivace?

About 156 to 176 BPM in commonly cited modern charts. At that speed a sixteenth note lasts less than 100 ms.

Sixteenth notes of 85–96 ms demand clean, relaxed technique. For the full set of dotted and triplet values, open the note duration converter at the chosen tempo.

Vivace vs allegro, vivacissimo and presto

Allegro is slower than vivace; presto reaches faster, and vivacissimo marks the top edge of vivace. The ranges touch or overlap.

Vivacissimo, the superlative, occupies only the top 4 BPM of vivace. From 168 to 176 BPM a tempo fits both vivace and presto; the word chosen tells the player whether to stress liveliness (vivace) or sheer speed (presto). See presto and how to count it in two for the faster marking, and allegro with its common qualifiers for the slower one.

Vivace as a qualifier

Vivace often follows another marking to add energy. In that role it changes the character more than the number.

• Allegro vivace — fast and lively; the quick side of allegro.
• Vivace ma non troppo — lively, but not too fast.
• Molto vivace — very lively; the top of the range.

Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, opens with a movement marked Vivace, ma non troppo, a clear case of the qualifier holding the speed back while keeping the lively character.

Vivace in 6/8: reading a dotted-quarter metronome mark

Multiply a dotted-quarter mark by 1.5 to compare it with quarter-note BPM. In compound meters such as 6/8, the felt beat is a dotted quarter, and vivace movements in those meters carry a dotted-quarter mark.

The first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 moves from a Poco sostenuto introduction into a Vivace in 6/8, with Beethoven’s metronome mark of dotted quarter = 104. The conversion:

quarter-note BPM = 104 × 1.5 = 156

• Dotted quarter (the felt beat): 60,000 ÷ 104 = 576.92 ms.
• Eighth note: 576.92 ÷ 3 = 192.31 ms, the same as an eighth at 156 BPM.
• One 6/8 bar: 2 × 576.92 = 1,153.85 ms.

Beethoven’s mark lands exactly on 156 BPM, the lower edge of the modern vivace range. The 6/8 time signature guide explains why the dotted quarter carries the beat.

Famous pieces marked vivace

Vivace heads energetic first movements in the Baroque and Classical repertoire.

• Beethoven, Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 — first movement, Poco sostenuto – Vivace.
• Bach, Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043 — first movement, Vivace.
• Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109 — first movement, Vivace, ma non troppo, with contrasting Adagio espressivo passages.

How to build up to a vivace

Learn the passage at allegro speed, then raise the click in steps until it reaches vivace. Starting at 120 BPM and adding 8 BPM per clean run reaches 160 BPM in five steps: 120, 128, 136, 144, 152, 160.

Keep the articulation short and light at every step, because vivace names a lively character as well as a speed. Set the metronome at 120 BPM to begin a vivace build-up, and switch the click to half notes once the quarter-note click feels crowded.