Poco a poco più animato

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff where the gradual quickening begins, sometimes extended by dashes; it continues until a tempo word, a tempo or a climax ends it.

Also spelled: poco a poco piu animato

How Composers Use It

The same idea as poco a poco animato, made explicitly comparative: each bar a little livelier than the last. Liszt uses it to rebuild momentum after a passage has died away, which is a good model — it works best starting from a quiet, slow point so there is room to grow. Plan the arrival tempo and mark it, so the gradual increase has a target.

Example

Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12, m. 130: “poco a poco più animato”, starting at p right after a “smorz.” that had taken the music down to ppp.

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