Interesting discussion... I haven't followed all of it (lacking the time at the moment), but I must say that David has said a many things I very much agree with.
On the question of appogiatura and "grace" notes I'd like to add an example: I have just released a CD with Sinfonie a tre by Johann Stamitz and Gluck. The two Sinfonie by Stamitz had a lot of problems of deciding on the performance of the small notes, whether they were appogiaturas or not. I first came across these two pieces in an old Riemann edition. In those all small notes were "washed" out and changed into real notes. While I was waiting for the first edition to arrive from the British library I started entering the score into Finale. Then, when it had arrived I went over it, and this made it very clear to me where Riemann had made decisions. Many of which I didn't agree with at all. Tells you how long lived such deliberate simplifications are. Anyway, the case with Stamitz is particularly difficult as his music was written for and published and Paris, where the conventions with small notes were at the time (Stamitz died in 1757, so we are not really talking classical conventions here) much more complicated than in say Vienna. There is simply no way that a small eighth note will mean the same in every situation. They can be short or long, on the beat, occasionally before, and they can indeed indicate a trill, or at least the option of a trill. There are many things to consider, and, which brings me back to the subject, there are many cases where another performer can justifiedly make a different decision. There is simply no way that this could be put in a notation which washes out the small notes while keeping the ambiguity of the original edition. Even I may make different decisions the next time we perform them (great pieces they are!). Johannes -- http://www.musikmanufaktur.com http://www.camerata-berolinensis.de _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
