Timing of the last measure of this song (picture included)

[xr280xr]

Hello,

I recently got a copy of the sheet music for Chopin's Op. 9 No 3 Nocturne. I had learned it by ear (90% of it at least) 5 or 6 years ago and I'm not sure if I, and the performer of the recording I learned from, have the timing on the last 2 measures correct.

The second to last measure changes to cut time Adagio (see the attached picture). It has an 8th note followed by 14 16th notes denoted legatissimo, smorzando, and rellentando. I have the slowing and fading away down, but cut time Adagio seems like it would make 16th notes pretty fast (a little faster than 8 per second). I've always played it a lot slower and I don't know if I'm reading it right. How fast is it meant to be?

[leather]

dude!!! they are like, thirty-second notes!!!! Holy Smokes!
good luck! 

[cjp_piano]

You should listen to recordings of it to see what other pianists do.

[xr280xr]

Ya, that's what I was thinking, but it didn't seem to fit with the song that way. Since, it seems, I'm no worse at reading the music than anyone else who had read this thread, I tried my luck on a different forum. Here was the answer I got (summarized):

A tempo indicator, such as Adagio, doesn't indicate a certain bpm. Rather its an indication of the pace relative to the pace of the piece. Adagio means slow or at ease. If I bump up the tempo faster than I was already playing, that's not going to sound slow or at ease. One person said they play each 16th note slightly slower than the 8th notes in the rest of the piece. That sounds about right to me. Here's a link to the complete answer for anyone interested in a more detailed explanation: https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1764469/How%20fast%20is%20this%20last%20measure?.html#Post1767905

CJP: Thanks, it was hard to find many, but they were all played pretty slowly, some faster than others, which was why I wasn't sure how to read it, but was pretty sure I wasn't reading it correctly.