b. 505-508

Long accent in FE

​​​​​​​ in GE & EE

Short accent suggested by the editors

The dynamic markings in bars 504-505 and 508-509 pose certain interpretative problems – some of them are almost certainly common, short accents (bar 504 and the 2nd half of bar 505); the remaining ones can be considered either long accents or diminuendo markings. It is difficult to differentiate between those two types, particularly without a preserved autograph. When qualifying particular markings to one or the other group, in each of the sources we took into account the length and position of the markings in relation to the notes:

  • in FE, we interpret the three marks in bar 508 as long accents due to their placement – the markings begin slightly before the first note of the triplet and do not reach its end. We adopt the same interpretation in the case of the first marking in bar 505, very similar to the second one in bar 508;
  • in GE1 (→GE2), the markings were moved and prolonged, hence we reproduce all of them as short diminuendoes;
  • in EE, it is only the marking in bar 505 that we consider a diminuendo, longer than those in bar 508;
  • in GE3, the notation is unambiguous – diminuendo in bar 505 and three short accents in bar 508.

In the main text, we unify all the discussed markings as short accents due to the similar context and statistical advantage of short accents, particularly in more accurately marked bars 504-505. We regard the missing markings in bar 509 as an oversight and suggest such markings in the main text as we adopted in analogous bar 505.

category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources

issues: Long accents, GE revisions

notation: Articulation, Accents, Hairpins

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