| Expression |
Meaning |
| accelerando |
gradually faster |
| adagio, adagietto |
easy-going |
| agitato |
agitated |
| alla breve |
four beat as two to the bar |
| allargando |
spreading out in tempo |
| allegro, allegretto |
with lightness of action |
| andante, andantino |
with movement |
| calando |
winding down, slower and softer |
| cantabile |
singing |
| con brio |
with spirit |
| con fuoco |
with fire |
| concerto |
the solo (group) |
| crescendo |
gradually louder |
| da capo |
from the top (beginning) |
| deciso |
firmly |
| diminuendo |
gradually softer |
| divisi a 2, 3, etc. |
divided in 2, 3, etc. parts |
| dolce, dolcissimo |
soft and sweetly |
| doloroso |
mournfully |
| espressivo |
with expression |
| flatterzunge |
(German) fluttertongue |
| forte |
loud |
| fortissimo |
very loud |
| giocoso |
with fun |
| grave |
with gravity |
| largo, larghetto |
expansively |
| legato |
smoothly |
| lento |
slowly |
| listesso (tempo) |
the same (tempo) |
| loco |
in (its usual) place |
| lungo, lunga |
long |
| mezzo |
quite |
| misterioso |
mysteriously |
| molto |
much, very |
| pesante |
weightily |
| pianissimo |
very soft |
| piano |
soft |
| poco, pochissimo |
a little, very little |
| portamento |
lifting (note to note) |
| presto, prestissimo |
at speed, at high speed |
| quasi |
sort of, rather |
| ripieno |
the accompanying ensemble |
| ritardando |
gradually coming to a stop |
| ritenuto |
pulling back |
| ritornello |
refrain |
| rubato |
borrowed (time) |
| secco |
with a dry tone |
| segno |
cue sign |
| segue |
follow on |
| sempre |
always |
| sforzato, sforzando |
with a forced tone |
| smorzando |
smothering, stifling the tone |
| sotto voce |
in an undertone |
| spiccato |
bounced (of the bow off the string) |
| staccato, staccatissimo |
short, very short |
| subito |
sudden, suddenly |
| Takt |
(German) beat, metre, bar (measure) |
| tanto |
so much |
| tema |
theme |
| tenuto |
holding back |
| tessitura |
range of instrument or voice |
| tranquillo |
calmly |
| troppo |
too much |
| via |
remove (eg mute) |
| veloce |
at speed |
| vivo, vivace |
with life |
| voce, voci |
voice, voices |
| volante |
as though flying |
| wieder |
(German) again |
| Zeitmass |
(German) tempo |
| zingaresca |
gypsy |
| zu 2 |
(German) for 2 players; in 2 parts |
| Year |
Winner(s)1 |
| 1901 |
René Sully-Prudhomme (France) |
| 1902 |
Theodor Mommsen (Germany) |
| 1903 |
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (Norway) |
| 1904 |
Frédéric Mistral (France); José Echegaray (Spain) |
| 1905 |
Henryk Sienkiewicz (Poland) |
| 1906 |
Giosuè Carducci (Italy) |
| 1907 |
Rudyard Kipling (UK) |
| 1908 |
Rudolf Eucken (Germany) |
| 1909 |
Selma Lagerlöf (Sweden) |
| 1910 |
Paul von Heyse (Germany) |
| 1911 |
Maurice Maeterlinck (Belgium) |
| 1912 |
Gerhart Hauptmann (Germany) |
| 1913 |
Rabindranath Tagore (India) |
| 1914 |
no award |
| 1915 |
Romain Rolland (France) |
| 1916 |
Verner von Heidenstam (Sweden) |
| 1917 |
Karl Gjellerup (Denmark); Henrik Pontoppidan (Denmark) |
| 1918 |
Erik Axel Karlfeldt (Sweden) (declined) |
| 1919 |
Carl Spitteler (Switzerland) |
| 1920 |
Knut Hamsun (Norway) |
| 1921 |
Anatole France (France) |
| 1922 |
Jacinto Benavente y Martínez (Spain) |
| 1923 |
William Butler Yeats (Ireland) |
| 1924 |
Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont (Poland) |
| 1925 |
George Bernard Shaw (Ireland) |
| 1926 |
Grazia Deledda (Italy) |
| 1927 |
Henri Bergson (France) |
| 1928 |
Sigrid Undset (Norway) |
| 1929 |
Thomas Mann (Germany) |
| 1930 |
Sinclair Lewis (USA) |
| 1931 |
Erik Axel Karlfeldt (Sweden) (posthumous award) |
| 1932 |
John Galsworthy (UK) |
| 1933 |
Ivan Bunin (USSR) |
| 1934 |
Luigi Pirandello (Italy) |
| 1935 |
no award |
| 1936 |
Eugene O'Neill (USA) |
| 1937 |
Roger Martin du Gard (France) |
| 1938 |
Pearl Buck (USA) |
| 1939 |
Frans Eemil Sillanpää (Finland) |
| 1940 |
no award |
| 1941 |
no award |
| 1942 |
no award |
| 1943 |
no award |
| 1944 |
Johannes V Jensen (Denmark) |
| 1945 |
Gabriela Mistral (Chile) |
| 1946 |
Hermann Hesse (Switzerland) |
| 1947 |
André Gide (France) |
| 1948 |
T S Eliot (UK) |
| 1949 |
William Faulkner (USA) |
| 1950 |
Bertrand Russell (UK) |
| 1951 |
Pär Lagerkvist (Sweden) |
| 1952 |
François Mauriac (France) |
| 1953 |
Winston Churchill (UK) |
| 1954 |
Ernest Hemingway (USA) |
| 1955 |
Halldór Laxness (Iceland) |
| 1956 |
Juan Ramón Jiménez (Spain) |
| 1957 |
Albert Camus (France) |
| 1958 |
Boris Pasternak (USSR) (declined) |
| 1959 |
Salvatore Quasimodo (Italy) |
| 1960 |
Saint-John Perse (France) |
| 1961 |
Ivo Andric (Yugoslavia) |
| 1962 |
John Steinbeck (USA) |
| 1963 |
George Seferis (Greece) |
| 1964 |
Jean-Paul Sartre (France) (declined) |
| 1965 |
Mikhail Sholokhov (USSR) |
| 1966 |
Shmuel Yosef Agnon (Israel); Nelly Sachs (Sweden) |
| 1967 |
Miguel Ángel Asturias (Guatemala) |
| 1968 |
Yasunari Kawabata (Japan) |
| 1969 |
Samuel Beckett (Ireland) |
| 1970 |
Alexander Solzhenitsyn (USSR) |
| 1971 |
Pablo Neruda (Chile) |
| 1972 |
Heinrich Böll (West Germany) |
| 1973 |
Patrick White (Australia) |
| 1974 |
Eyvind Johnson (Sweden); Harry Martinson (Sweden) |
| 1975 |
Eugenio Montale (Italy) |
| 1976 |
Saul Bellow (USA) |
| 1977 |
Vicente Aleixandre (Spain) |
| 1978 |
Isaac Bashevis Singer (USA) |
| 1979 |
Odysseus Elytis (Greece) |
| 1980 |
Czeslaw Milosz (USA) |
| 1981 |
Elias Canetti (Bulgaria) |
| 1982 |
Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia) |
| 1983 |
William Golding (UK) |
| 1984 |
Jaroslav Seifert (Czechoslovakia) |
| 1985 |
Claude Simon (France) |
| 1986 |
Wole Soyinka (Nigeria) |
| 1987 |
Joseph Brodsky (USA) |
| 1988 |
Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) |
| 1989 |
Camilo José Cela (Spain) |
| 1990 |
Octavio Paz (Mexico) |
| 1991 |
Nadine Gordimer (South Africa) |
| 1992 |
Derek Walcott (Santa Lucia) |
| 1993 |
Toni Morrison (USA) |
| 1994 |
Kenzaburo Oe (Japan) |
| 1995 |
Seamus Heaney (Ireland) |
| 1996 |
Wislawa Szymborska (Poland) |
| 1997 |
Dario Fo (Italy) |
| 1998 |
José Saramago (Portugal) |
| 1999 |
Günter Grass (Germany) |
| 2000 |
Gao Xingjian (China) |
| 2001 |
V S Naipaul (UK) |
| 2002 |
Imre Kertész (Hungary) |
