Sempre più mosso

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff where the continuing acceleration begins; it keeps working bar by bar until a new tempo word, a tempo or a climax marks its end. It is often reinforced by a crescendo.

Also spelled: sempre piu mosso

How Composers Use It

Unlike più mosso, a single step, sempre più mosso asks for a continuous quickening — an accelerando expressed as ever more motion. It builds tension across a span of bars and so needs a destination: a climax, a new tempo, or a held chord where the energy discharges. Pace it by the length of the passage; a long sempre più mosso needs room for the tempo to grow gradually.

Example

Chopin, Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23, m. 44: “sempre più mosso”, marked f in one encoding — a quickening that keeps gathering until the next tempo marking.

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