NOTATIO

My point in writing these posts is to show the things that several master composers did that are in opposition to our current engraving practices. Composers do many things instinctively as well as by calculation in musical notation, and these things can be beautiful. The S-shaped slur in the Moonlig...

More examples of interesting stemming from Beethoven's Violin Sonata op. 24 ("Spring"): Ex. 1 Beethoven doesn't want to break the unity of this sweeping passage by changing stem direction: Beethoven Sonata Op.24 ex 1.jpg Ex. 2 When the passage recurs, he has a problem because he wants to w...

That is already a wonderful job, Knut! I don't think that I will attempt it. (-: You described exactly what I had to do to create my own clef from the Wiener Urtext clef. After this, the smoothing and refining operation by overlaying the original and spiral and oval shapes to the various parts. To m...

Knut, sorry for the long delay. I think that this version satisfies the different demands of weight and angle very well and is quite readable. I prefer contrast of some kind, whether weight, size or angle, between the complete dynamic symbol and the text expression, so that they do not run together ...

Thanks for the comment, Knut. The only edition at IMSLP that presents the lower slurs accurately is the Schenker edition, which is very widely used in the US as reprinted by Dover. I no problems in this slur for a casual player. But I agree that it certainly deserves explanation. Beethoven Schenker ...

Whatever computational scanning errors are involved here, I see the original clef and the original punch that made it in my mind's eye, and it is clean and beautiful. A little like listening to old recordings: we don't have to listen to the scratches and can supply in our imagination what is missing...

The following excerpt is from the second movement of Beethoven's Sonata op. 27 no. 2 ("Moonlight"). A unique S-shaped slur occurs in the left hand of the first measure in the example: Beethoven Slur.jpg Why? Lack of room above the third beat? Or something else? The following analysis show ...

Knut, this is a very enlightening discussion. Thank you for this information which should interest everyone who cares about computer engraving. I had no idea that imperfections in the glyphs had far-reaching consequences. I think that I now need to check my home-made clef more carefully! Are there o...

I looked at several of the other commercial G clefs, and what you say is sadly true, Knut.

I have never liked the Maestro G clef because of its shape, but just looked at it enlarged. I see bumps, lumps and unevenness everywhere. In short, it is a complete mess. I am amazed. Totally.