Larghissimo: Extremely slow (1–24 BPM)
Larghissimo means extremely slow, a tempo of roughly 1-24 BPM and the slowest standard marking in Western music notation.
Larghissimo Metronome: 1 to 24 BPM
Press play to hear Larghissimo at 30 BPM, or switch to the slow and fast ends of the range.
Loops until you press Stop. Beat 1 is accented so you can feel where the bar starts.
What Larghissimo Means
Larghissimo is the slowest tempo marking in music, indicating an extremely broad and drawn-out performance. It is rarely encountered in standard repertoire and is most often associated with experimental or meditative works. At fewer than 24 beats per minute, each beat can last several seconds, demanding extraordinary control and sustained attention from the performer.
Etymology
Italian, superlative of 'largo' (broad), literally 'as broad as possible'
BPM Range
Minimum: 1 BPM
Maximum: 24 BPM
Typical: 20 BPM
Practice with a metronome set to subdivisions rather than the beat itself, as the gaps between beats are very long. Focus on breath control and bow/finger sustain to maintain a steady, even tone.
Larghissimo in Real Music
Larghissimo almost never appears in standard concert repertoire, and that scarcity is the point. Where it does turn up, it is less a tempo than a statement about duration itself. John Cage's Organ2/ASLSP carries the instruction As Slow as Possible, and the ongoing performance in Halberstadt, Germany has been unfolding since 2001 with individual chord changes years apart. Erik Satie's Vexations asks a short chromatic motif to be repeated 840 times; complete performances routinely run well past eighteen hours. In both cases the beat, at fewer than 24 pulses a minute, stops being something the body feels and becomes something the mind has to track deliberately. Baroque and Classical composers had no use for a marking this extreme. The slowest tempo they normally needed was grave or largo, and period evidence suggests even those were taken brisker than modern audiences expect. Larghissimo is essentially a twentieth-century artifact, arriving once composers began treating time as raw material rather than as a container for melody. Ambient and drone musicians work the same territory without naming it, building pieces where harmonic change rather than rhythmic pulse supplies the sense of motion. The practical consequence for players is that ensemble cannot be held by feel: performers count subdivisions, watch a conductor, or work from a stopwatch instead of a click.
Example Pieces
- Organ²/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible), John Cage
- Vexations, Erik Satie
Common Genres
Related Tempo Markings
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the slowest tempo marking in music?
Larghissimo is the slowest standard tempo marking, indicating a tempo below 24 BPM. Some experimental works push this even further.
When is larghissimo used?
Larghissimo is extremely rare in standard repertoire. It appears mainly in avant-garde and experimental compositions where an extraordinarily slow pace creates a meditative or atmospheric effect.
How many BPM is larghissimo?
Larghissimo sits at roughly 1-24 BPM, with about 20 BPM a typical reading. At that speed a single beat lasts around three seconds, so most performers count subdivisions rather than the beat itself.
Is larghissimo slower than grave?
Yes. Larghissimo runs from about 1-24 BPM, while grave sits higher at 25-45 BPM. Larghissimo is the slower of the two and the slowest standard tempo marking in music.
What pieces are marked larghissimo?
True larghissimo works are rare and mostly experimental. John Cage's Organ2/ASLSP and Erik Satie's Vexations are the best-known examples, both stretching performance times far beyond what conventional notation anticipates.
Related References
Practise Larghissimo at Any Tempo
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