The dots under the pianoforte notes mean those notes are played staccato. It means that those notes are played short and clipped. And I think you can sub a piano for a pianoforte. If I'm not mistaken, the pianoforte was a forerunner to the piano and somewhat similar.
Pianoforte is just another (lesser used) term for piano. Arguably it is the more proper term. Prior to this I had never heard the term "sul" but just looked it up to find that it's short for "sul corda" which means "on the string of". In context this means play the first two notes on the g string and the second two notes on the d string. It's not surprising that I've never heard the term having never played a stringed instrument other than a piano(forte). (and the dots under the notes (as opposed to next to the notes) do mean that a note is played staccato.)
There was also "fortepiano", which I think was a different design path that got dropped in favour of the pianoforte, but I may have misremembered that and it might just be an even more obsolete synonym for pianoforte ... (Off to Google now...)
Yup, a pianoforte IS a piano. We've just shortened it over the years. In Italian, Piano means soft and Forte means loud, so the instrument's name is literally "soft-loud." The significance is that the pianoforte has the capacity to play a wide dynamic range based on how hard you strike the keys, which earlier keyboards like the harpsichord and virginal did not. The piano was quite the sensation when it was introduced in the early 1700s.
And yes, the dots mean to play the notes staccato, or short and sharp. Other marks you may encounter under or over notes include little "greater-than" symbols, which mean marcato (marked, or accented), or little lines, which mean tenuto (separated from the other notes, and slightly emphasized). All of these are called "accent marks."
I don't play strings but xuth's explanation of "sul" makes sense.
Fingering numbers are a convenience for inexperienced players. They don't change the way the music sounds, they're just suggestions for the easiest way to finger a particular combination of notes.
I'm almost tempted to look that piece up in the library at the office, and give it a listen. Working for a classical music radio station has its perks.
Thanks, but all I need to do is query the database on the composer, and it will tell me what recordings, if any, we have. Any recodings we have would then be in the library, filed by record label and that label's catalog number.
Comments 19
And that's about all the help I can be. :)
Reply
Prior to this I had never heard the term "sul" but just looked it up to find that it's short for "sul corda" which means "on the string of". In context this means play the first two notes on the g string and the second two notes on the d string. It's not surprising that I've never heard the term having never played a stringed instrument other than a piano(forte).
(and the dots under the notes (as opposed to next to the notes) do mean that a note is played staccato.)
Reply
Reply
Reply
And yes, the dots mean to play the notes staccato, or short and sharp. Other marks you may encounter under or over notes include little "greater-than" symbols, which mean marcato (marked, or accented), or little lines, which mean tenuto (separated from the other notes, and slightly emphasized). All of these are called "accent marks."
I don't play strings but xuth's explanation of "sul" makes sense.
Fingering numbers are a convenience for inexperienced players. They don't change the way the music sounds, they're just suggestions for the easiest way to finger a particular combination of notes.
Reply
Reply
Reply
The old WCRB database lists one recording (Delos DE-3065), but their library is now in the hands of the Evil Empire and I no longer have access to it.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment