Heftiger

As Printed on a Score

A comparative, printed above the staff where the intensity should step up, sometimes with an Italian equivalent beside it in bilingual editions; it lasts until the next character word.

How Composers Use It

More vehement: a stronger, harsher delivery than what came before, so it presupposes heftig or at least a passionate context. It may bring a slight push in tempo and sharper accents, but it is not a dynamic — mark the level too. Mahler prints it in a song headed Langsam und schwermütig, nicht schleppend.

Example

Mahler, Kindertotenlieder, “Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n”, piano, m. 40: “heftiger”, in a song headed “Langsam und schwermütig, nicht schleppend”.

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