Mit Feuer

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff, usually inside a heading (“Mit Kraft und Feuer”), or at a passage that should catch fire. It holds until another character word. The adjective form appears in headings too (“Mit feurigem Schwung”).

How Composers Use It

Mit Feuer is the German con fuoco: urgency, brilliance, driving rhythm and bright attack. It implies a lively tempo without fixing one, so pair it with a tempo word or let it qualify one. Use it for heroic and passionate music; it loses meaning in a slow, quiet context. When it shares a heading with another noun, one mit governs both.

Example

Beethoven, Sechs Lieder, Op. 48, “Gottes Macht und Vorsehung”, voice, m. 1: “Mit Kraft und Feuer” — one mit carrying both strength and fire.

Related Terms