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Topic: Schubert Marche Militaire Tempo (Read 1549 times)

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PS Silver Member
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Posts: 934

Schubert Marche Militaire Tempo

on: January 06, 2024, 03:11:18 PM

I am writing a piano arrangement for Marche Militaire No. 1 (D 733) but am confused about the tempo. I tried to play it at Allegro vivace and it seemed unreasonably fast, and when I listen to recordings of the 4 hands version. Right now I set the bpm to 120 and at 100 for the trio, which works to my ears. But I'm still confused about the tempo marking set. I also don't see a bpm in any of the IMSLP copies but the Liszt transcription has a bpm of 108, suggesting Schubert may have indicated a slower tempo. Why, then, would it be marked Allegro vivace?

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last 3 schubert sonatas and piano trios are something else

lelle

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Posts: 2656

Re: Schubert Marche Militaire Tempo

Reply #1 on: January 06, 2024, 11:11:52 PM

Tempo marks having certain BPM:s associated with them is not a hard rule. Ultimately, these words are just descriptions of character. Allegro vivace = fast and lively. How fast "fast" is depends on what suits the music.

Same thing with Presto - different Presto's have different BPM:s. It just tells you it's supposed to be very fast.