DE schleppend tempo advanced Support my free tools
How is schleppend played?
Let the movement drag with deliberate heaviness, delaying its forward arrival enough to make the effort or weight perceptible. Duden distinguishes a cumbersome, laborious manner that is slow as a consequence from neutral low speed, and its musical example describes playing a piece somewhat schleppend. Mahler sharpens the distinction by writing Langsam. Schleppend at the start of Symphony No. 1: langsam establishes slowness, while schleppend adds the dragging quality. The related cautions nicht schleppend and ohne zu schleppen explicitly exclude this positive dragging instruction. Preserve control of pulse and ensemble even when the character is heavy.
How does schleppend sound?
Heavy, delayed motion; not just a neutral slow tempo.
Schleppend describes a quality, not a tempo: something laborious and drawn-out — DWDS's own words are schwerfällig, mühsam und deshalb langsam, cumbersome, effortful, and slow as a consequence rather than a cause. It functions mostly as a warning against an undesirable slackening, close to the Italian trascinando, not as a destination speed.
In context
Duden defines schleppend as cumbersome and laborious, therefore slow, and also as slow and drawn out; it gives a direct musical usage. Mahler’s First Symphony prints Langsam. Schleppend, demonstrating that “heavy, delayed motion” is not just a neutral slow tempo. The term requests dragging quality, whereas nicht schleppend, nicht schleppen and ohne zu schleppen forbid it. No stable general abbreviation was established, so the word remains written out.
Equivalent terms
- EN dragging
- DA slæbende