NOTATIO

I agree with OCTO: if you want to avoid a repeat mark at the beginning of Var. VIII without risk of confusion, put a final bar line at the end of the previous variation.

I agree with Anders' first three points. I do think your double bar in 135 shows the end of a section and should remain. It is somewhat traditional in themes and variations (see Beethoven op. 14 no. 2 second movement.) If I were writing the piece, I would make measure 131 a split measure by reducing...

Or is it that since the compositional and notational practices developed at the same time they influenced each other in a way that is disrupted when new conventions are imposed?

The following example of centered beaming occurs in the second movement of Beethoven's Sonata op. 2 no. 2 (last measure of the example in the bass voice. The example is from a working copy of my edition, so please forgive errors): centered beaming.jpeg The first edition: centered beaming first editi...

The following fingering reflects the phrasing discussed, and to my hand feels more natural than the more commonly seen 5 5 5 5. Schnabel's fingering shows that he had the same interpretation of the passage: 5 3 4 3

immediately after the previous passage we see the following centered beaming in the left hand broken octaves: op 2 no 2.1 beaming.jpeg The passage as it is usually engraved: op 2 no 2.1 B&H.jpeg Previously I considered the first notes of each left hand group of seven eighth notes, which are mark...

Thank you very much, David. I greatly value your opinion and will certainly continue to hold forth on the old notational practices. There is so much to be learned.

Here is an case where note placement in itself solves a text issue. The first movement of Beethoven's Sonata op. 2 no. 2 has a number of controversial areas. One of these occurs at A in the following example. op 2 no 2.1 note distribution and text question.jpeg Did Beethoven really want A to be diff...

Here is a diagram of the palindromes at multiple levels within the down-stemmed phrase:

During and after the time of Beethoven and Chopin, the standardization that we see today began to affect more and more aspects of music engraving practice. While much of this was positive, some was negative. In this series of posts, I am going to present illustrations of the practices of the past th...