In music, sostenuto is a term from Italian which means "sustained," and occasionally also implies a slowing of tempo. It usually refers to a style of playing rather than a tempo; for instance, if the tempo marking of a piece is Adagio Sostenuto, the tempo would be slow (Adagio), and the sostenuto part of the marking tells the player to hold notes longer than he normally would, connecting them together in a very legato style, and perhaps also to play longer phrases than might normally be the case.