Poco più moto

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff where the slight quickening starts, in German scores sometimes beside a vernacular equivalent such as Etwas bewegter; it lasts until a tempo or another tempo word.

Also spelled: poco piu moto

How Composers Use It

A gentle increase in flow — the music moves on rather than speeds up. German composers sometimes print the Italian and their own language side by side, giving performers both the convention and the nuance. Use it for a phrase that should press forward slightly without any sense of hurry, and mark the return if the original tempo matters.

Example

Mahler, Kindertotenlieder, “Nun seh’ ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen”, voice, m. 29: “Poco più moto”, printed with “Etwas bewegter” after a “rit.” in the previous bar.

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