Chopin: Pianist and Teacher: As Seen by his Pupils by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger

Author:Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger [Eigeldinger, Jean-Jacques]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1987-01-22T02:00:00+00:00

the legato slur, the portando (see pp. 113–15, note 82), and the détaché dot, which he differentiates from the ‘dagger’ indicating a dry staccato – a sign which still appears in his autograph of op. 63/1 (F-Pn). Last and most important, the dynamic accent indicated by sf (sforzando, printed fz in the OFE) should be distinguished from the agogic accent which lengthens the note, indicated by >. Chopin graphically differentiates between these two accents, sometimes taking the trouble to mark both signs on the same note or the same beat (see Mazurkas: op. 6/1 bars 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54; op. 6/2 bar 40; op. 6/4 bars 4, 8, 16, 20, 24). There is reason, therefore, to respect the distinction, and not automatically to reinforce a dynamic accent by an agogic one, as all too often happens. In addition, Chopin uses two ways of writing the agogic accent, depending on whether it is to be short or long. In his prefaces to the Wiener Urtext edition in progress of Chopin’s works, Jan Ekier specifies: ‘For Chopin, the short accent (>) denotes a louder dynamic, whereas the long accent implies an expressive stress.’ (Another proof of the lengthening value of the sign is its appearance over seven consecutive notes in the Mazurka op. 6/2 (bars 29–30); the return of this same melodic line towards the end (bars 69–70) bears the indication portando.)

Chopin’s notation includes here and there alternating agogic accents, making an undisguised duple metre pattern (Mazurkas: op. 6/3 bars 2–4; op. 68/3 bars 35–6). The second section of op. 24/1 (bars 17–32) is an outstanding example:

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