Definition of ritardando in English:
ritardando
adjective & adverb ˌrɪtɑːˈdandəʊ
Music (especially as a direction) with a gradual decrease of tempo; rallentando.
Example sentencesExamples
- No deviations from this basic pulse are indicated - no accelerando or ritardando - but the avoidance of repeated rhythmic patterns prevents the emergence of any phrase-structure comparable to Schumann's.
- When the trumpets entered, their ascending phrase was ritardando to a degree, allowing a gradual and more dramatic crescendo too.
nounPlural ritardandi, Plural ritardandos ˌrɪtɑːˈdandəʊˌrētärˈdändō
Music A gradual decrease in tempo; a rallentando.
Example sentencesExamples
- Bach's fermatas and the symmetrical variation groupings they produce, have profound implications with respect to tempo relationships, as well as the amount of pause and ritardandos taken between each variation.
- At that time, detailed research into historical performance practice was still limited, which accounts for the massive final ritardandi and other features which would now be questioned.
- He knew exactly where the accelerations and ritardandos should be, and when the lilt was most important.
- It is sometimes a bit too easy and didactic to consistently underline such things as radical modulations or harmonic shifts, by means of accentuation, rhetorical pauses, ritardandos, etc.
Definition of ritardando in US English:
ritardando
(also ritard)
adverb & adjectiveˌrētärˈdändō
Music (especially as a direction) with a gradual decrease of tempo.
Example sentencesExamples
- No deviations from this basic pulse are indicated - no accelerando or ritardando - but the avoidance of repeated rhythmic patterns prevents the emergence of any phrase-structure comparable to Schumann's.
- When the trumpets entered, their ascending phrase was ritardando to a degree, allowing a gradual and more dramatic crescendo too.
nounˌrētärˈdändō
Music A gradual decrease in tempo.
Example sentencesExamples
- Bach's fermatas and the symmetrical variation groupings they produce, have profound implications with respect to tempo relationships, as well as the amount of pause and ritardandos taken between each variation.
- He knew exactly where the accelerations and ritardandos should be, and when the lilt was most important.
- At that time, detailed research into historical performance practice was still limited, which accounts for the massive final ritardandi and other features which would now be questioned.
- It is sometimes a bit too easy and didactic to consistently underline such things as radical modulations or harmonic shifts, by means of accentuation, rhetorical pauses, ritardandos, etc.