Tempo rubato

Tempo rubato is expressive flexibility in musical timing that bends the pulse without losing its underlying continuity. Performers use it to shape phrases, emphasize notes, and convey character.

Pulse (music): The regular underlying beat perceived in music, whether or not it is explicitly sounded. Rubato stretches or compresses events against this felt regular beat.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: A German composer and keyboardist whose treatise shaped eighteenth-century performance practice. His writing describes expressive tempo flexibility in keyboard playing.
Nocturnes (Chopin): A set of piano pieces by Frédéric Chopin that develops the lyrical character of the nocturne. Their songlike melodies often invite flexible timing over a steadier accompaniment.
Accelerando: A gradual increase in musical tempo. It changes the overall pace rather than flexing timing locally around a continuing pulse.
Agogic accent: An emphasis created by lengthening a note rather than increasing its loudness. A slight lengthening can make a note expressive without changing its dynamics.
Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s treatise on keyboard technique, ornamentation, and expressive performance, published in two parts. It offers an early detailed account of expressive timing in performance.
Lied: A German art song, typically written for solo voice and piano. Singers and pianists coordinate expressive timing around words and melody.
Ritardando: A gradual slowing of musical tempo. It slows the passage as a whole, while rubato can redistribute time within it.
Phrasing (music): The shaping of a musical passage into meaningful units through timing, articulation, and dynamics. Rubato often follows the rise and release of a musical phrase.
Frédéric Chopin: A Polish-French composer and pianist whose works helped define nineteenth-century piano music. His performances and music became closely associated with flexible melodic timing.

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