Molto vivace

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the first system as a heading, often with a form label such as Scherzo and a metronome mark, and in force until the next tempo word. A contrasting trio carries its own heading, and the return is marked by a da capo or Tempo I.

How Composers Use It

Very lively: the classic tempo of the 19th-century scherzo, fast and buoyant, usually felt one beat to the bar in 3/4. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Chopin’s Third Sonata both carry it on their scherzos, and Bruckner glossed it in German as Schnell in his Fifth Symphony. Its emphasis is on liveliness of spirit rather than raw speed, so rhythms should snap and accents land cleanly.

Example

Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 (“From the New World”), third movement, flute 1, m. 1: “Molto vivace”, with “a 2” and f.

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