On 27 Jun 2006 at 22:29, Christopher Smith wrote: > On Jun 27, 2006, at 9:58 PM, Lon Price wrote: > > > I'm working on a piece by Paganini for a client, and his handling of > > tuplets got me wondering about the standards for notating them. > > This piece is a theme and variations, and when he writes sextuplets > > the first two show the numbers, and then he leaves them off, which I > > know is common practice. But in the finale he has sextuplets (no > > number), then a septuplet (still no number), then 8 16ths in the > > time of 4, and finally 9 16ths in the time of 4. It's my > > understanding of the rule for tuplets is that the number of tuplets > > in one beat should not exceed the subdivided metrical value ( 5, 6 > > or 7 16ths in the time of 4). So when Paganini gets to 8 and 9 > > notes in one beat, that should be 32nds. I realize that I have to > > faithfully reproduce what he wrote (who am I to question the great > > Paganini?), but isn't this technically incorrect? > > Yup, it is incorrect. > > I would never write something like that, but when it is music at > someone else's standard, I don't know what to do. > > Maybe someone else with more experience with older music in newer > editions can chime in.
There is no right or wrong answer. What you put in your edition depends on the purpose of your edition. I would probably change the 8 tuplets to 32nds and include an indication of this change in the critical notes. Why? Because it's going to be easier for people to play, and it's more important to me that people be able to play the old music I'm editing than it is that the edition slavishly follow the original. However, I don't believe there's any information loss by doing this. If there were notational issues that indicated something that could be lost, I would retain the original. This is why I slavishly follow original beaming, including the now out-of-fashion crossed beams (i.e., something like |/|). I think those are as significant as beam breaks in indicating possible subtleties of phrasing, so I always retain them. But I can't see how retaining an 8 tuplet clarifies anything at all. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
