# Motor Rythyms



## Vox Gabrieli

I was reading up on Dmitri Shostakovich : Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65, and the article was describing the third movement, where the strings driven onward by motor rhythms. It was hyperlinked to an unwritten Wikipedia article!  Anyone have thoughts on this? 

Cheers


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## Taggart

The article gives the phrase which is used in quarter notes see for further explanation and examples in eighth notes.


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## millionrainbows

I hear "motor rhythms" in Shubert's late quartets. There will be a scherzo or minuette in a 6/8 or 12/8 meter, for the third movement, followed by a quick "motor rhythm" movement in 4, where an eighth note pulse is emphasized. That's a main thing I listen for in Schubert.


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## Musica Enchiriadis

Maybe the correct expression would be "motoric rhythm" ? A sort of continuous pulse, with a constant rhythm pattern...
For the baroque music, there is also the word "Fortspinnung", how combine motoric rhythm and repetitive harmonic sequences.


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## Musica Enchiriadis

A Wikipedia article on Fortspinnung...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortspinnung


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## millionrainbows

The end of Mozart's Symphony Nr. 40 is like that, too, marked "allegro assai." When I see "assai," I think of "assail." It's a real forceful, insistent 'machine-gun' of eighth notes, very exciting.


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