Played slowly, and nation falls apart (9)
I believe the answer is:
andantino
'played slowly' is the definition.
The answer and definition are different parts of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs occasionally mean the same thing.
'and nation falls apart' is the wordplay.
'falls apart' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen 'falling apart' mean this).
'nation' with letters rearranged gives 'antino'.
'and'+'antino'='ANDANTINO'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for andantino that I've seen before include "Slightly faster than walking pace (mus.)" , "Fairly slow" , "at a leisurely pace" , "a slowish pace" , "movement" .)