moto perpetuo

/ ˈməʊtəʊ pəˈpɛtjʊəʊ /

noun

1. music a fast instrumental passage made up of notes of equal length

Word History and Origins

Origin of moto perpetuo¹

Italian, literally: perpetual motion

Example Sentences

Whether in the sinister, whirling moto perpetuo of the second Le Vent, or the funeral march of the last, Morte, which uses the Dies Irae as a frame and builds to a ferocious climax, Maltempo makes every effect count.

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The sparkling moto perpetuo that closes the piece — breathless at first, then increasingly percussive — instantly brought the audience to its feet.

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The Toccata is, at present, understood to be a piece in constant and regular motion, very much like those that are called "moto perpetuo" or "perpetual motion," of which Weber's "Perpetuum mobile" is a good example.

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But there seems always to be room for more, and on Sunday evening the Ensemble Moto Perpetuo introduced itself with a short but alluring program at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in Manhattan.

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Strosser frames the sonata with the manic moto perpetuo of Holliger's Trema and with Franco Donatoni's explosive Ali, which almost seems about to shake itself apart through its own irascibility; there's Lachenmann's Toccatina, too, a study originally written for violin, and one of Giacinto Scelsi's explorations of microtonal tunings in Manto, which requires the violist to sing as well as play in the final movement.

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