I need your help because I am writing Critical Notes for an upcoming edition.
While I could get away with this without explaining it too much, my conscience drives me further.
Ever since down- and up-bow markings have been notated, there have been several conventions, for example:
- classical down-bow that looks like the letter N in cursive, and up-bow that looks like a V, from the words "nobilis" and "vilis" in Latin. This is also what survived as the most-accepted convention.
- down-bow as an upside-down V and up-bow as an ordinary V. This can be found in old German editions, relatively modern French editions, and in most XIX century Ricordi's editions (picture)
- both down-bow and up-bow symbols equal to today's down-bow (nobilis), just flipped vertically (rare, but easy to check in most Durand editions of the XIX and early XX century
Do you know a bit more of the history and evolution of these symbols?
Thank you so much for your contribution and insight!
All best,
Neera