largo [It., broad, large]

(1) Very slow; according to some 18th-century theorists, the slowest of the principal divisions of *tempo, though then and later it was often placed between adagio and andante. (2) A movement whose tempo is largo. The piece popularly known as Handel’s “Largo” and played in a variety of arrangements is the aria “Ombra mai fù” (Shade never was) from *Serse, which, however, is actually marked larghetto.