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A probable long accent in A |
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Accent in FED (possible reading) |
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Accent in FES (possible reading) |
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The editors' proposition |
The accent in A may be read as a long one or a short one. We find the first option more likely, considering the unmistakably long accents in analogous bars 11 and 51 of A. In GE (→FE→EE) short accents were used, which in this situation cannot be considered an inaccuracy.
Still more problems occur when one tries to apply the accent (short or long) to the modified version of the melody in FED and FES. Three possibilities come to mind:
- the accent was closely connected to the original version of the melody with a crotchet on the 3rd beat; in the variant with the fragmented rhythm it no longer applies.
- the accent had a predominantly rhythmic function and, as an element shaping the kujawiak character of the Mazurka, it remains on the 3rd beat.
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the accent emphasized first of all the leading note f
2 and is still supposed to refer to it.
We tried to take those possibilities into account in the proposed versions of interpretation of particular sources. Some differentiations are to a certain degree arbitrary – we do not know whether Chopin indeed meant the accent in FES to relate to f2 and in FED to the 3rd beat. The slur added in FED, suggesting a smooth progression of the quavers in that place, was an argument for the adoption of such a solution.
Compare the passage in the sources »
category imprint: Differences between sources
issues: Long accents
notation: Articulation, Accents, Hairpins