Molto moderato

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as a heading or as a section marking within a movement, and in force until the next tempo word. It also appears inside longer headings — Allegro molto moderato, Andante molto moderato — where it pulls the first word toward a calmer pace.

How Composers Use It

Very moderate: decidedly unhurried and steady, with a sense of restraint. Inside a compound heading it does most of its work, as in Schubert’s Impromptu in C minor, D. 899 No. 1, marked Allegro molto moderato, where it reins Allegro back toward calm. Alone, it suits songs and slow-moving pieces that should feel deliberate without becoming slow. A metronome mark settles how far toward slow it should lean.

Example

Mahler, Symphony No. 5, third movement (Scherzo), piccolo, m. 308: “Molto moderato.”, printed with “Von hier an a tempo” (from here on, in tempo).

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