# is there a convention for tempo changes in Tarantellas?



## circa

Strange question but I suppose this is as good a place for it as any.
I have a vague memory of my childhood piano teacher telling me that classical pieces of the Tarantella/Totentanz/Danse Macabre genre were written with the intention that the tempo would gradually speed up throughout the piece. Was that just an invention of hers or is there something to it? The respective wikipedia articles don't say anything about it.
Other than the widely recognized latin abbreviations used in scores (accelerando, etc) is there any proper musicological term for a piece that slowly speeds up?


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## Larkenfield

They are usually up-tempo and fast and sometimes speed up. Then there seems to be another type like this famous one by Chopin that has an air of delirious frenzy about it as it keeps going and going... It sounds like it's going to speed up if it only could, because it's already so fast.


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## Larkenfield

They are usually up-tempo and fast and sometimes rush to speed up like this frantic one by Franz Liszt. Then there seems to be another type like this famous one by Chopin that has an air of delirious frenzy about it as it keeps going and going... It would speed up if only it could, but it's already going so fast that it can't. The tarantellas I've heard are usually wild, rambunctious, and border on the out of control.


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