NOTATIO

I can see the reason why the full-sized B flat in the left hand should be matched with an eighth rest in the right hand, but since the arpeggio shares both staves, is it necessary? It made me a little bit confused at first, I have to admit.

Interesting observation! When working with, and teaching, 16th century vocal counterpoint, I wanted to keep something of the old notation to create a mental gap between that and the more familiar styles of later times, styles which have a tendency to invade your imagination. So, I kept the old note ...

That's like when your mum tells you to 'just be yourself'. :lol: Maybe I deserved that... But then again, common sense, vague as it may be, is not far from 'good taste' or 'intuition'. Admittedly, that might sound like other things a mum could tell you. Rather much in our line of work is based on e...

To sum this up: If you are working for a scholarly edition, take care that you come as close as possible or practicable to the practice of the time when the music was written. If not, use your own common sense.

Recent manuscripts, or old, which may have a bearing on the score order being more or less standardised? (Difficult to tell from your excerpt,) Solo winds in a concerto? (Which may account for putting the more prominent one on top of the other.)

The winds having no brackets looks fine to me. One of them is brass, the other woodwind, so they don't really belong together. Is there a reason for putting the brass instrument on top of the woodwind one? The other way round would seem more traditional.

On another forum there's a, perhaps not main theme, but surely a leitmotif, about MM's lack of interest in what's discussed about their product. That's not the impression I've got of Steinberg's attitude to the Dorico users. And that's why I assumed that a part of the shaping of their program was ac...

To my eyes, the problem with white text on a dark background is that it makes the text less distinct. White is more expansive than black, which often makes the boundaries of graphic elements slightly uncertain. I don't know of a scientific explanation for this, but I would imagine that what is more ...

Thanks, Ben and Fred for a very interesting thread. I can't say that I follow you in all technical particulars, but I can imagine that a part of the shaping (up) of a new program is taking place just here and now.

Thanks for a very interesting analysis, John! My reflections are these: After the insistent Fb-Eb motives preceding your example, it might feel as a relief to descend further down the scale to the temporary tonic of Ab, bringing out the bass voice, as you say. On the other hand the Fb-Eb motives, st...