Tempo Primo

Tempo primo (often abbreviated Tempo I or Tempo I°) instructs the performer to return to the very first tempo of the movement or piece. It is used after extended passages of tempo modification, often longer or more dramatic than what would warrant a simple ‘a tempo’.

The marking is especially common in pieces with multiple tempo sections — minuet-and-trio movements, scherzo-and-trio, ABA forms, character pieces with contrasting middle sections. After the contrasting section ends, ‘Tempo I’ restores the original speed of the A section.

In practice, ‘a tempo’ and ‘Tempo I’ overlap. ‘A tempo’ usually returns to whatever immediate tempo was in effect before the most recent modification; ‘Tempo I’ specifically returns to the opening tempo of the movement, which may be different.

Italian, ‘tempo first’ — tempo + primo (‘first’), from Latin primus.

Identify the opening tempo of the movement before the performance begins. When ‘Tempo I’ appears, recover that specific tempo, not just any reasonable speed.