Hi if I write rubato in the beginning of a piece, is there an expression to cancel the rubato from here and further, you need to play on time. In other words not rubato?
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1*play on time* = a tempo – Albrecht Hügli Apr 07 '20 at 07:16
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1*Tempo giusto* - in strict time - is used to cancel a rubato instruction. – Old Brixtonian Apr 07 '20 at 10:41
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I would non spontaneously understood either of these. The only thing I've ever encountered would be to write *rubato sin al [something]* to begin with. – Kilian Foth Apr 07 '20 at 10:50
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2@Kilian Foth Ignorance is no excuse! But then, few people know what rubato really means anyway. It's not just continually slowing down. – Laurence Apr 07 '20 at 12:50
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2@AlbrechtHügli "a tempo" simply means to revert the beat timing to the original. So if the piece started with rubato, that won't help. – Carl Witthoft Apr 07 '20 at 14:17
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This is, I fear largely an opinion question, so here goes: I would start out by pointing out that the definition of "rubato," at least at Dolmetsch, is
(Italian, literally 'robbed') abbreviated from tempo rubato (Italian: robbed time), a limited freedom of rhythm and tempo when performing a piece of music where the time extension applied to one note is taken (hence 'robbed) from an adjoining note or notes
Thus, one expects the average tempo to be the design value, but for notes or short phrases to sway around that mean value.
So I would probably want to put in a clear instruction such as 'tempo giusto,' (with props to OldBrix for presenting this correct term), or even 'marziale' or some such depending on the mood you want the music to switch to.
Carl Witthoft
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