"Pesante" means "heavy" or "heavily;" nothing very unusual there.

 

In the second movement of Ives' Second String Quartet, there are sections marked Andante Emasculata, Allegro Con Fisto, Largo Sweetola, Largo Soblato, Andante Con Scratchy, and Allegro Con Fistiswatto.

 

Well that would certainly make sense, but the essence of the thread is just, what've you come across that is unusual to you,

 

Molto moderato still doesn't sit well with me.

 

Whenever I encounter some strange 'markings', I consult with the online Dolmetsch Music Dictionary. It has become a valuable resource for me at times.

 

Mahler's 2nd Symphony begins with "Allegro maestoso with a thoroughly serious and ceremonious expression."

Did Bruno Walter ever stomp out of a rehearsal because he caught a faint grin amongst the second violins?

 

Some of Prokofiev's Fugitive Visions have interesting markings: i.e. Ridicolosamente.

 

Prokofiev favored one particular marking, precipitato, i.e. precipitating, in a rushed manner. It's used mostly in his piano music, to my knowledge.

Smanioso is another term he's used in piano music (the 4th Sarcasm), which means craving/rampaging. Irrealmente, i.e unrealistically, is used in the 20th Vision Fugitive, and in its context of Lento irrealmente, means unrealistically sad. I guess that means super depressed.

 

Schumann piano sonata #2 movement 1 - the beginning is marked "o rasch wie möglich" (as fast as possible), the coda "schneller" (faster), and the concluding bars "noch schneller" (even faster).

 

The contemporary American composer Michael Daugherty (1954-) has a terrificly clever work called the "Metropolis Symphony ", which believe it or not, is a program symphony about Superman and the other characters from the comic strip !
One movement has a tempo marking called "faster than a speeding bullet ". I kid you not ! I'ts great fun, and uses all kinds of unusual instruments, such as a musical saw and police sirens etc, and tons of percussion.
I recently heard the Argo recording with David Zinman and the Baltimore symphony. It may not be easy to find, but check arkivmusic.com, the best place on the internet for hard-to-find classical CDs. They also have a terrific general selection, plus DVDs.

 

The contemporary American composer Michael Daugherty (1954-) has a terrificly clever work called the "Metropolis Symphony ", which believe it or not, is a program symphony about Superman and the other characters from the comic strip !
One movement has a tempo marking called "faster than a speeding bullet ". I kid you not ! I'ts great fun, and uses all kinds of unusual instruments, such as a musical saw and police sirens etc, and tons of percussion.
I recently heard the Argo recording with David Zinman and the Baltimore symphony. It may not be easy to find, but check arkivmusic.com, the best place on the internet for hard-to-find classical CDs. They also have a terrific general selection, plus DVDs.

I love this piece!! Mvt 1 is my fav, but the entire piece is fun to listen to

 

Spianato had me puzzled when I first saw it in you-know-what by you-know-who.

 

Surprised no one has mentioned Satie; he regularly marked his tempo very poetically with markings such as "don't leave" and "don't be proud".

 

From the Ginastera article in wikipedia "...With directions such as furiosamente ("furiously"), violente ("violent"), and salvaggio ("wild")..." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danzas_Argentinas

I like the salvaggio one

 

Those danzas are a pearl.

 

From the last section of Rued Langgaard's Violin Sonata #2 of 1921: "Femminile e Virile e con Lustro".

Outside my UCF office I posted the last couple pages of a Henry Brant piano piece and highlighted the directions given about every couple bars: dogmatic; coy; gossip; loudmouth; crocodile tears; feigned regret; blushing; name dropping; pompous unction; gotta go, another appointment.

 

Very informative, welcome to the forum .

 

My favorite is from Sir Andrew Aguecheek from the Henze’s Royal Winter Music II

Marcia non troppo funebre (march, not too funeral)

 

It may or may not be considered unusual some American composers translated Italian into English. For example Don Gillis using phraseology like "Quite slowly, moderately fast," or "Quite fast-in a gay manner." And or course "gay" meant something entirely different at the time.