Più Mosso

Più mosso, Italian for ‘more motion’, instructs the performer to speed up to a tempo somewhat faster than the previous section. Like meno mosso, it is a relative marking — più mosso means faster than what came immediately before, not faster in absolute terms.

The marking is common at moments of structural intensification. A composer might use più mosso to signal the entry of a new section, the start of a development, or a build toward climax. The new tempo is established immediately at the marking, not approached gradually as it would be with accelerando.

In practice, performers and editors sometimes interpret più mosso loosely — a small bump in tempo, perhaps 5–10% faster. Some scores include metronome marks alongside più mosso to fix the new tempo precisely.

Italian, ‘more motion’ — più (‘more’, from Latin plus) + mosso (‘moved’).

Establish the new tempo cleanly at the marking. Do not accelerate into it; più mosso is a step, not a curve. The amount of increase is judgment-dependent — usually 10–15%, sometimes more.