Crescendo molto

As Printed on a Score

Printed below the staff as molto cresc. or cresc. molto, typically followed by dashes to show its span or paired with a hairpin. It ends at the dynamic it reaches, which composers usually print a bar or two later (ff, fff).

Abbreviations: cresc. molto, molto cresc.

Also spelled: molto crescendo

How Composers Use It

Molto widens the arc rather than speeding it: a large rise, often over a short span, toward a climax. Write the target dynamic so the size is defined, and consider the orchestration — a crescendo that adds instruments as it grows is far more convincing than one asking a few players to push. Avoid placing molto cresc. back to back; the second has nowhere to go.

Example

Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”), fourth movement, first horn, m. 274: “molto cresc.”, renewing a cresc. from the bar before and reaching ff in the next bar.

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