(1) When the trumpets entered, their ascending phrase was ritardando to a degree, allowing a gradual and more dramatic crescendo too.(2) No deviations from this basic pulse are indicated - no accelerando or ritardando - but the avoidance of repeated rhythmic patterns prevents the emergence of any phrase-structure comparable to Schumann's.(3) It is sometimes a bit too easy and didactic to consistently underline such things as radical modulations or harmonic shifts, by means of accentuation, rhetorical pauses, ritardandos , etc.(4) Bach's fermatas and the symmetrical variation groupings they produce, have profound implications with respect to tempo relationships, as well as the amount of pause and ritardandos taken between each variation.(5) At that time, detailed research into historical performance practice was still limited, which accounts for the massive final ritardandi and other features which would now be questioned.(6) He knew exactly where the accelerations and ritardandos should be, and when the lilt was most important.
