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11 long accents in A (contextual interpretation) |
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8 long accents & 3 short ones in FE |
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10 short accents & 1 long one in EE |
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In the entire fragment (until b. 515) the accents under the R.H. bottom voice minims are of different length; they are also ambiguous in terms of their shape. As a result, determining whether Chopin meant a long or a short accent in a given bar is very problematic. We assume that they are long accents, since:
- these minims are a part of a motif repeated as ostinato, hence there is no reason to differentiate between them;
- even the shortest ones (b. 499, 507 and 515) are clearly longer than all undoubtedly short accents in the L.H. (b. 493-494, 496-502 and 508-515).
Similarly to b. 311-333, the remaining sources do not contain traces of Chopinesque intervention in this regard. The differences in the size of the marks in FC are minimal, so we assume – in accordance with GE – that they are short accents. Fontana overlooked the marks in b. 505 and 507, which was corrected in GE2 (→GE3). In FE we determine the length of the accents by comparing them with the undoubtedly short accents in the L.H. It results in short accents only in b. 501, 503 and 505. It is uncertain whether those differences were intended by the engraver, since the use of longer or shorter marks is neither musically consistent nor corresponding to the differences in A. In EE all accents are short except for b. 515, where the mark is clearly bigger.
Compare the passage in the sources »
category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources
issues: Long accents, EE revisions, GE revisions, Errors of FC, Inaccuracies in FC
notation: Articulation, Accents, Hairpins