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Much bow: use a long portion of the bow for each stroke.
Printed over a string part, usually at a loud, sustained passage, sometimes near a broad-stroke instruction (breit gestrichen). It lasts for that phrase or until a new bowing word.
Viel Bogen asks for fast bow speed over a long stretch of hair, giving a big, open, ringing tone without pressing. It is Mahler’s way of drawing intensity from string sections at climaxes. Combine it with frequent bow changes (viel Bogen wechseln) when the notes are long; on short notes it produces broad, separate strokes.
Mahler, Symphony No. 5, fourth movement (Adagietto), first violins, m. 30: “viel Bogen” at ff.
Viel Bogen is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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