Furioso

What it means

Furioso means “furious, raging” and calls for a stormy, agitated performance. The word designates an affect and thus belongs to the character designations, not to the tempo words — even though a furious performance is as a rule quick.

What is meant is a bundle of means: hard accents, strong dynamics, urgent motion, sharp articulation. Compared with energico, which asks for strength and decisiveness, the difference lies in the degree of self-control: energico is collected, furioso beside itself.

Related are the German stürmend (“storming”) and the older concitato, which in the seventeenth century designated a way of writing of its own for wrath; Monteverdi described this stile concitato in the preface to his eighth book of madrigals (1638). As an addition the word often appears in the phrase Allegro furioso.

In the notation

The word is written in italics above the staff, usually after a tempo word, and applies until a new marking. Typical neighbours are tremolos, repeated notes, sforzandos, chromatic runs, and strong dynamics — means that already lay out the affect in the notation.

Musical use

The designation is used in dramatic sections of the opera and oratorio literature, in developments, and in finales of a stormy character. In the piano and orchestral music of the nineteenth century it stands over pieces whose whole cut is laid out for agitation.

Performance practice

Keep the rhythm exact: rage works in the sound, not in inaccuracy — a blurred passage sounds erratic, not stormy. Set accents sharply without crushing the tone. Keep reserve in the dynamics so that intensification remains possible. And hold the tempo instead of pushing; the impression of raging arises from density, not from acceleration.