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3 long, 8 short accents in A |
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The accents with which Chopin provided in A the vast majority (21 out of 24) of the dotted minims in b. 311, 313 and analog. until b. 435 differ in shape and size; however, due to the ostinato nature of the R.H. bottom voice, it is almost certain that Chopin did not mean to differentiate between the marks. The question thus arises as to whether all accents are to be considered short or long. The presence of a few undoubtedly long accents (b. 417, 425, 433 & 435) suggests that the remaining ones were also supposed to have the same meaning, which would be compliant with a typical function of such accents, i.e. emphasising the expressively important or sonically significant long notes. On the other hand, in A it is short accents that statistically prevail: 10 marks versus 7 that could be considered long and 4 are difficult to define (in the transcription we reproduce them as short). While copying A, Fontana reproduced only the longest mark (in b. 425) as a long accent, which was nevertheless unified in GE1. EE and GE2 (→GE3) contain short accents only, whereas it was only the latter that added all 3 accents overlooked by Chopin. The accents printed in FE illustrate the general image of A quite well: the majority of the marks are slightly longer than typical short accents, like the ones in, e.g. b. 423 or 429, yet too short to be considered long accents, like in, e.g. b. 387. In the main text we suggest long accents; the version of GE2 (→GE3) with short accents may be considered an equivalent variant.
category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources; Editorial revisions
issues: Long accents
notation: Articulation, Accents, Hairpins
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