moderato

American  

[mod-uh-rah-toh] / ˌmɒd əˈrɑ toʊ /

adjective

Music.

1. moderate; in moderate time.

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moderato British  

/ ˌmɒdəˈrɑːtəʊ /

adverb

1. at a moderate tempo

2. (preceded by a tempo marking) a direction indicating that the tempo specified is to be used with restraint

   allegro moderato

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Etymology

Origin of moderato

1715–25; < Italian < Latin moderātus moderate

Explanation

When you see moderato in a piece of music, you know you should keep the pace right in the easy middle — neither fast nor slow, but at a medium tempo. Moderato is Italian, but looks very much like the English word moderate, which is exactly what it means: performed at a moderate tempo, or a nice, easy, controlled pace that doesn’t rush and doesn’t drag.

Example Sentences

Those qualities are matched, though in an earlier harmonic accent, in the Mendelssohn Octet, represented here by a lively, seat-of-the-pants reading of the opening Allegro moderato con fuoco movement.

From New York Times • Jan. 16, 2011

The wistful, dancing Andante moderato was similarly mixed: sometimes beguiling, sometimes careless.

From New York Times • Oct. 22, 2010

The moderato is their natural pace, and they recur to it as infallibly as would a pendulum after having been a moment hurried or slackened in its oscillations.

From The Orchestral Conductor Theory of His Art by Berlioz, Hector

Allegro moderato, moderately quick; allegro maestoso, quick but with dignity; allegro assai and allegro molto, very quick; allegro con brio or con fuoco, with fire and energy; allegrissimo, with the utmost rapidity.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 1 A to Amide by Various

Multos ibi quina cubita constat longitudine excedere: non expuere: non capitis, aut dentium, aut oculorum vllo dolore affici, rarò aliarum corporis partium: tam moderato Solis vapore durari.

From The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 09 Asia, Part II by Hakluyt, Richard