Steigernd

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff where a build-up begins, often with a crescendo; it continues until the climax it leads to. Mahler’s bilingual editions pair it with animando or con accrescimento, showing that it can involve tempo as well as intensity.

How Composers Use It

Intensifying — tempo, dynamic and expressive energy rising together toward a climax. It is broader than crescendo (volume) or accelerando (speed) because it asks for both and for growing intensity of tone. Mahler uses it repeatedly in Kindertotenlieder; mark the arrival point clearly.

Example

Mahler, Kindertotenlieder, No. 2, “Nun seh’ ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen”, voice, m. 23: “steigernd”, printed with “animando”, two bars after a p.

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