rubato types

temporoo-BAH-tohfrom Italian

Different applications of expressive tempo flexibility, including melodic rubato (where the melody floats over a steady accompaniment) and structural rubato (where the entire ensemble speeds up or slows down).

In Depth

Rubato (from Italian "[tempo rubato](/term/tempo%20rubato)," stolen time) exists in two principal forms. The older type, described by Mozart and Chopin, involves the right hand (melody) playing freely while the left hand (accompaniment) maintains strict time — as if the melody "borrows" time from one beat and returns it to another. This melodic rubato creates an elegant tension between rhythmic freedom and stability. The later type, associated with Wagner and the Romantic era, involves the entire musical texture speeding up or slowing down together — what most modern performers mean by "rubato." Chopin was reportedly a master of the older melodic rubato, with his accompaniment hand maintaining clock-like regularity while his melody hand floated expressively above it. His student tells us Chopin would place a metronome on the piano during lessons and insist the left hand never deviate from its beat. Modern performance practice has largely lost this distinction, with most rubato now involving the whole ensemble, though historically informed performers are reviving the older technique.

Did you know?

Chopin was so insistent on his type of rubato — steady left hand, free right hand — that he placed a metronome on the piano during lessons, telling students: "The left hand is the conductor, it must not waver."