Breit: meaning and use in music

Breit means 'broadly': give the marked passage breadth in line, tempo-feel or sound as the local score requires; write the German word in full.

DE breit voicing and balance core term Support my free tools

How is breit played?

Shape the phrase with a broad span, sustained direction and enough weight for the musical material to feel more extended than neutral. The result may involve a roomier tempo-feel, fuller sound or wider phrasing, but breit does not by itself prescribe a metronome value, dynamic level, accent pattern or automatic slowing. Read its span and intensity from the surrounding score, and keep the complete word because no reliable standard abbreviation was established.

How does breit sound?

broad, extended phrase

In context

Specialist dictionaries define breit as broad or slow, while published score usage writes it in full beside separate tempo, dynamic and articulation information. The evidence supports contextual breadth rather than one mandatory parameter, and no candidate short form met the direct-expansion threshold.

Equivalent terms

  • IT largamente
  • FR large
  • EN broad
  • DA bredt

Music theory and score context

See also

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