Perpetual motion machine (music)

Perpetuum Mobile (often also Italian Moto Perpetuo ) is a term in music history that was used especially by Niccolò Paganini , Carl Maria von Weber and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , for instrumental pieces of virtuoso character, which with a high level of difficulty in constant, small note values and fast movement (hence the name).

The name was also used by Johann Strauss (son) for a quick polka with the subtitle "A musical joke". Here, however, the title is to be understood as an allusion to the repeated accompaniment of the piece.