Più mosso

What it means

Più mosso means “more moved” and calls for playing faster from the marked point than before. Like its counterpart meno mosso, the marking names no absolute tempo but a relation: the new tempo is related to the old. How great the difference should be remains open; a distinct, immediately perceptible intensification is meant.

The change happens abruptly. Herein lies the distinction from accelerando, stringendo, and animando, which all call for a gradual becoming faster. Whoever pulls the tempo up over several bars at più mosso blurs the effect that arises precisely from the break. An exact doubling, by contrast, is called for only by doppio movimento.

In the notation

The phrase stands in italics above the staff at the point from which it applies, and remains in effect until a new tempo marking or the end of the section. Metronome numbers next to it often come from the editor. After the section, a tempo or tempo primo restores the earlier tempo — careful reading is worthwhile here, because the two markings mean different things.

Musical use

The marking usually marks a new formal part or an intensification: the beginning of a coda, the transition into an urgent closing section, a moved episode within a calmer movement. Because it determines the tempo relatively, the connection with what precedes remains audible. In the music of the nineteenth century, a sequence of such markings often organizes whole movements. Its counterpart is meno mosso, which calls for a calmer tempo than the preceding section.

Performance practice

Take the new tempo from the first note, without a run-up. Decide beforehand how much faster you will go, and check whether the densest passages of the section allow it — the most common weakness is a tempo that can no longer be held after a few bars. Remember the starting tempo for the return. In ensemble the first bar is decisive; it helps to deliberately rehearse the shared entry, instead of relying on the ear.