On Wed, 27 Mar 2002, Tony Kitchen wrote: > I have download your edition of the Muffat violin sonata, prior to > printing it I noticed (with some horror) that there a number of C > flats in it. Eventually I realised that these should be C naturals. > There are many instances.
Hi Tony Thanks for your comment. I should perhaps have mentioned this point in the preface. All these C flats are original. They are to be found in Muffat's manuscript. I changed nothing. However, although I carefully checked against transcription errors I cannot exclude mistypings. But these notes are not mistypings. Note that in the renaissance and early baroque notation system there was no natual "accidental" except for the b which had already in middle age music two species "b quadratus" and "b mollis". In bar 122 of the sonata you'll find indeed a b natural in the sense of an accidental and as a trace of this notation tradition. The sharp was invented during renaissance. I don't know when the natural "accidental" overtaken from the "b quadratus" became common for other notes. Apparently Muffat uses the flat for indicating a cancelled sharp signature and a sharp for canceling a flat. You find this in many scores of the 17th century. For keybord instruments this has no great importance, but my personal experience is that when you have a variable intonation (as with a violin or as a singer) this system shows much better which notes have to be taken (or to be thought) higher or lower than expected, or as a sort of average feeling would tell. Furthermore in the continuo figures you'll allways find a flat indicating a minor third and a sharp indicating a major third or just a 3 if there is nothing unexpected (except the third itself or the moment when it should be taken) > I know that many baroque composers were very adventurous hamonically, > but these seem to be simple errors, involving the incorrect > accidental. In modern sens of reading surely. But since my edition does not try to describe music of the 17th century with the language of the 19th century (or from whatever era) I would rather tell the way of reading it as being incorrect :-) Actually, as the manuscript of this sonata is written with excellent clearness and as it is available in a fac simile edition, I'd like to encourage everybody who has access to it to use this original. > I am however looking forward to playing the sonata. enjoy it :-) regards Bernhard _______________________________________________ TeX-music mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://sunsite.dk/mailman/listinfo/tex-music
