‖ adagio, adv., a., and n. Mus.
(əˈdɑːdʒ(ɪ)əʊ)
[It. ad agio at ease, at leisure.]
A. adv. A direction for the musical time in which a piece is to be sung or played: Slowly; leisurely and gracefully.
| c 1746 Garrick Musical Lady 1. Deep despair now thrums adagio. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. vi. 348 Mr. Beckendorff began an air very adagio, gradually increasing the time in a kind of variation. |
B. adj. Of musical movement: Slow, leisurely.
| 1773 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 252, A musical bar of four crotchets in an adagio movement. 1788 A. Pasquin Childr. Thespis (1792) 128 His words flow too quick to administer pleasure In adagio time, and precipitate measure. 1828 E. Holmes Musicians of Germ. 70 In an adagio movement played by this gentleman..I found excellent taste. |
C. n.
1. A slow movement in music; a piece of music in adagio time. Also fig.
| 1784 Cowper Task ii. 361 [He] sells accent, tone, And emphasis in score, and gives to prayer The adagio and andante it demands. a 1790 T. Warton Wks. I. 187 (T.) He has no ear for musick, and cannot distingish a jig from an adagio. 1867 Cornh. Mag. Jan. 31 The adagio is hurried till it overtakes the allegro, and the allegro apes the manners of the presto. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. II. xxvii. 187 Said G. in an adagio of utter indifference. |
2. A dance or ballet movement in adagio time. Also attrib.
| 1830 R. Barton tr. Blasis's Code of Terpsichore ii. i. 56 Can any thing be more ludicrous than to see a thick-set dancer..gravely figure off in a slow and mournful adagio? 1922 Beauclerk & Evrenov tr. Svetlov's Karsavina 16 No dancer could find a better partner in pas de deux or adagio. 1929 M. Lief Hangover 179 That new adagio team I imported from Vienna. 1946 Wodehouse Joy in Morning iii. 18 He spun round with a sort of guilty bound, like an adagio dancer. 1959 Sunday Times 29 Mar. 11/5 This adagio should never be devoid of character when it is part of the full-length ballet. |