adage

Adage is a word which can be derived from two different etymological sources: from Latin adagĭum or from italian adage. In the first case, the concept belongs to the field of linguistics and it is used to name a concise expression that usually has a moral teaching and that is easy to memorize or learn.

An example of an adage is "Better late than never". In this case, the sentence invites you to act, even when it seems that the opportunity has already passed. The adage proposes leaving a passive state to move on to action.

The adages are similar to sayings, the maxims, the proverbs and the aphorisms, among other kinds of expressions. At a general level, it can be said that they function as a guide since they suggest certain behaviors, sometimes appealing to humor or irony.

When adage comes from the language Italian, its use is in the field of music. The notion alludes to a certain tempo. The adage assumes the execution of between sixty and seventy-two quarter notes per minute.

Regarding the concept of tempoEssential to understand this meaning of the term adage, it is about the speed at which a musical work must be executed. It is also known by the name of air or movement and in a score it is normal to find the indication of this speed at the beginning of the piece, on the staff.

Throughout history, the way of pointing out the tempo of a work has changed, since the metronome (the device used to assist musicians in the performance or in the reading of a piece through a sonic division of time, generally with a TIC Tac similar to that of a clock) was not massively adopted until the 19th century. One of these forms, precisely, was based on the inscription of a word that would give a rough idea of ​​character or "state of mind" that the composer intended to express at all times, and among them are allegro, walking and of course, adage.

With the invention of the metronome, which took several centuries to adopt the design and functionality we know today, it was possible to make much more precise annotations: for example, how many quarter notes should be played per minute. Although music should not be understood in a mechanical and invariable way, but spontaneous and natural, it is important to have this information, to know how composers want us to reproduce their creations, regardless of whether we later print new nuances in our performance.

If the adage is found as an indication of tempo, then it is very common that there is also a value corresponding to the metronome; the way of interpreting it varies according to the time of the score, and that is why we have the following correspondences: in an old score, the adage is equivalent to 54 quarter notes per minute; With the use of an electronic metronome, we speak of a range that goes from 56 to 78 quarter notes per minute; this range is between 60 and 72 quarter notes per minute if the score is contemporary. If we compare other indications, adagio supposes a higher speed than long, long Y serious, but less than walking.

Usually the adage appears in the second or third movement of a concert or symphony. Its duration is variable since there are examples that go from three to fifteen minutes. Ludwig van Beethoven is the author of one of the best known adages: it is the one that we can appreciate in the first movement from "Moonlight", a piano sonata that he presented at 1802.