November 18, 2009
Accented
One of my standard post-concert cocktail party jokes has been about someday writing a history of music based entirely on the use and development of the fermata and the caesura, aka Bird's Eyes and Railroad Tracks. But, lo and behold, what piece of musicological obscuria should have just landed in my mailbox but a history of the accent, Orchestral Accents (1960) by one Richard Korn. Yep, analysis and history of the use of the accents, < and tyle="font-size:130%;">sf(z). (There is, to be sure, also a brief appendix discussing the ^/v markings which are different beasts). Notated accents, according to Korn, begin with the vertical lines of CPE Bach and the equivalent wedges of the early classicists, and their use gradualy changes from a notation for emphasis of a tone other than the first in a measure (syncopations) to an expressive device of its own (peaking in Stravinsky). Korn classifies their appearances: occurring on the attack or carrying through an entire tone, using either sharpness of attack, timbre or volume (or some combination of the above) to create relief within the prevailing dynamic context. I can't speak to the validity of the text today as I am sure that there has been significant musicological work done in the field since Korn's book appeared, and one would surely like to extend the American music chapter to composers besides Gershwin and Copland, but jeez, it sure ruined a reliable old bit of post-concert repartee.
Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on Nov 18, 2009 at 06:21 PM