DE getragen tempo core term Support my free tools
How is getragen played?
Support and carry the phrase with sustained tone, settled pulse and deliberate weight. A slower, broader and solemn delivery is often the practical result—the baseline’s sense of weight and breadth—but getragen does not prescribe one tempo or make heaviness and ceremony compulsory in every context. Keep the motion alive beneath the calm surface, shape full note values and long lines, and let harmony, text and orchestration determine how grave or expansive the character should become. Maintain the bearing until another tempo or character instruction.
How does getragen sound?
Slow, heavy, dignified motion — borne rather than driven, often ceremonial.
Getragen — sustained — is defined by DWDS as feierlich, ruhig, langsam: solemn, calm, slow, all at once. It sits close in spirit to adagio, describing a measured, dignified manner of delivery rather than a codified speed.
In context
A historical professional dictionary and the Internationale Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft both translate getragen as sustained, while Duden defines its musical sense as sounding or being performed in measured tempo and with calm seriousness. Together the sources explain why the term can feel weighty, dignified and even ceremonial without meaning simply slow. It combines tempo, phrasing, tone support and character rather than fixing a BPM. No stable general abbreviation was established, so getragen remains written out.
Equivalent terms
- FR soutenu
- FR bien soutenu
- IT sostenuto
- EN sustained
- EN solemnly carried