Agitato

Agitato is one of the most frequently used expressive directions in classical music. It instructs the performer to play with agitation — an unsettled, restless, urgent character. The marking does not by itself dictate tempo, although agitato passages tend to be at least allegro and frequently faster.

The agitation may be conveyed through any number of musical means: rapid running figures, syncopation, abrupt dynamic shifts, off-beat accents, harmonic instability, breathless phrasing. A skilled performer combines several of these to create a unified impression of unease without descending into chaos.

Agitato is common in operatic recitativo and aria, in piano repertoire (Schumann’s In der Nacht is essentially a study in agitato), and across the Romantic symphonic tradition. The opposite affect is tranquillo — calm, settled, untroubled — which often appears later in the same piece as a deliberate emotional contrast.

Italian, past participle of agitare (‘to agitate, stir’), from Latin agitare, frequentative of agere (‘to drive, do’).

Make every note a little nervous. The bow shakes slightly, the breath catches, the touch is slightly unsettled. Avoid the trap of merely playing fast and loud — agitato is psychological, not athletic.