You can certainly get hold of a score of Cosi Fan Tutte at http://imslp.org/ If the score is correctly engraved, you will see a long fermata over the whole of measure 26 in the Terzetto N° 2. The rhythm is dotted half note - quarter note, for Ferrando, Guglielmo and all the violins. In this case I simply go from beating in 2 to beating in 4, using the left hand to clearly indicate the two notes for the violins. There are surely other ways to notate what Mozart wanted, but this way is perfectly clear, at least for an orchestra used to playing opera.
In Aaron's case, I see no problem with the wide fermata. I'd add "dictated" since it apparently accompanies dance moves. On 11 Feb 2012, at 19:24, John Howell wrote: > At 11:32 AM +0100 2/11/12, Florence + Michael wrote: >> Wide fermatas are old notation: Mozart used >> them, for instance. In his operas you can find >> instances of wide fermatas over two or more >> notes. In most cases it's the singer who has >> several notes while the orchestra holds one >> note, but there are cases where the fermata >> extends over more than one note in the orchestra >> parts as well (for instance Cosi Fan Tutte, N° >> 2). Here Mozart writes "colla parte". > > > Thanks for that. I had never seen it, and I'd be > curious about how it was written (or engraved). > But in Mozart's case (and most other 18th century > composers, for that matter), a fermata was very > specificlly used to indicate where the soloist > was to improvise a cadenza. (It was also used, > of course, to indicate a "Fine" point after a Da > Capo.) > > So in the case you describe, I would suspect that > for the soloist it was a cadenza indication > (which would, of course, break the tempo), while > for the orchestra it might be an indication NOT > to cut off and leave the soloist alone, which > would otherwise have been the default behavior. > Could you possibly give an example? The only > score I actually have at hand is the piano-vocal > score to "Don Giovanni." > > Just to clarify my original point, I wasn't > saying that this (or any other notational > convention) should NOT be used, but that the > composer might want to ask whether he or she is > writing for musicians who will understand it and > interpret it appropriately. And no matter where > or when this may have been used, or by whom, it > still isn't standard practice. (If it were, > Finale would include it, right?!!) > > John > > > -- > John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music > Virginia Tech Department of Music > School of Performing Arts & Cinema > College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences > 290 College Ave., Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0240 > Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 > (mailto:john.how...@vt.edu) > http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html > > "Machen Sie es, wie Sie wollen, machen Sie es nur schön." > (Do it as you like, just make it beautiful!) --Johannes Brahms > > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > Finale@shsu.edu > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
