pizz in French scores

Have your scores reviewed by other users. Comment on old and new published scores and on publishers.
Post Reply
User avatar
OCTO
Posts: 1738
Joined: 05 Oct 2015, 06:52
Location: Sweden

pizz in French scores

Post by OCTO »

From Daphnis et Chloé by Durand et Cie.
Why pizz and not pizz.?
Saving punches, saving ink, saving space?
7dca804d81cb5a71dea3cd1c6fbc2e85.jpg
7dca804d81cb5a71dea3cd1c6fbc2e85.jpg (31.21 KiB) Viewed 9337 times
Freelance Composer. Self-Publisher.
Finale 27.3 • Sibelius 2023.5• MuseScore 4+ • Logic Pro X+ • Ableton Live 11+ • Digital Performer 10+ /// MacOS Monterey (secondary in use systems: Fedora 35, Windows 10)
MJCube
Posts: 130
Joined: 15 Dec 2015, 13:32
Location: NYC

Re: pizz in French scores

Post by MJCube »

Very interesting. Since “pizz” in a string part couldn’t mean anything but pizzicato (pizza? not likely) it’s just as obvious with no period. Also “arco” is not abbreviated, so that makes more of a “parallel construction”. I guess they were saving space, and a bit of work.
User avatar
Schneider
Posts: 111
Joined: 09 Oct 2015, 06:50
Location: Paris

Re: pizz in French scores

Post by Schneider »

MJCube wrote:[...] I guess they were saving space [...]
+1 ;)
Knut
Posts: 867
Joined: 05 Oct 2015, 18:07
Location: Oslo, Norway

Re: pizz in French scores

Post by Knut »

MJCube wrote:I guess they were saving space, and a bit of work.
From the looks of it, this seems like the most sensible reason to me for omitting the period. This is not standard practice, even for Durand.
User avatar
David Ward
Posts: 523
Joined: 05 Oct 2015, 19:50
Location: Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Contact:

Re: pizz in French scores

Post by David Ward »

I've long felt that abbreviation dots have little real function except where their absence might cause confusion, which is clearly not the case with 'pizz'. I rarely use them in my MS scores, but I do in Finale, for no better reason than that they're there by default.

According to a very knowledgeable lexicographer with whom I'm acquainted, the UK practice for their use in English is much more relaxed and flexible that is that of the US, which is stricter and more traditional.

I'm not sure, though, how this might relate to a French publisher of a century ago!
Finale 25.5 & F 26.3.1
Mac OS 10.13.6 & 10.14.6
https://composers-uk.com/davidward/news-links/
MJCube
Posts: 130
Joined: 15 Dec 2015, 13:32
Location: NYC

Re: pizz in French scores

Post by MJCube »

Yes, now that you mention it, for years I have felt more comfortable with the British way of writing St for Street, Mr for Mister, etc, with no periods. (And yet I’m not in the habit of writing “etc.” without one! Had to change it to be self-consistent.)
Post Reply