At 12:59 PM -0400 10/13/06, Kim Patrick Clow wrote:
Good Day.
In the Baroque scores I am working on, quite frequently I will see a "fort."
At first I just assumed this was a plain jane "forte." But this marking
seems to follow immediately after a "pp" marking. So, I was speculating that
"fort" really meant "ff" since I have yet to encounter this in Graupner's
music. Since Darmstadt (as all of Germany during the early 18th century) had
such a heavy influence of French, I was told that the marking "fort." could
be the French for "loud."
Actually the French word means "strong" rather than "loud," a subtle
difference but one to keep in mind. In Rameau, this alternates not
with the Italian "piano" or "p" but with the French "douce" or
"sweet," another subtle difference indicating mood rather than volume.
The dynamic markings in scores and parts seems to be very inconsistent.
And this surprises you?
What would your advice be on this?
Should I just insert a "F" for all instances of "fort"?
Actually I would suggest leaving the original just as it is. It
conveys more information to those who have studied the era.
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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