Presto furioso

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as a heading or, more usually, at a climactic section late in a piece, and in force until the next tempo word or the end.

How Composers Use It

Very fast and furious: the extreme of speed and violence, appropriate for a virtuoso coda or a frenzied dance. Balakirev uses it in Islamey, one of the most notoriously difficult piano pieces of the 19th century. The marking signals that tone and precision may be pushed to their limits, so give the player figuration that rewards abandon. Use it sparingly: a whole movement marked furioso leaves no room to intensify.

Example

Balakirev, Islamey: An Oriental Fantasy, m. 282: “Presto furioso”, in a piece that opens “Allegro agitato”.

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