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Staccato, Accent or Both: The Wedge vs the Dot

     

Chopin

     A pianist writes: How do you explain to your students, interpretively, stylistically and practically the tied B pick-up to measure 5 (Ex. 1)? And later, the wedges (Ex. 2)?

Mazurka Op. 17, No. 1,
Ex.1

Ex. 2 Mikuli Edition (1894)

Ex. 3 Schlesinger Edition (1834?)

     In the first example most pianists, myself included, repeat the tied B. (I interpret the tie as a slur and the dot as a direction to re-articulate.)Think of it as a two-note slur but staying on the same note. This is sometimes referred to as an accented slur.

Mazurka: Polish folk dance 
in triple meter

     The wedge (staccatissimo) is often clouded in confusion. In the early 18th century it was interchangeable with the dot and both meant staccato. Later in the century it could be interpreted as a staccato, an accent or both (Schubert used it as the latter). The wedge was defined as shorter than the dot, 1/4 and 1/2 the note's length, respectively. It was codified into the three types—short, accent or both—in 1821 by Friedrich Starke in Wiener Pianoforte Schüle, to which Beethoven

Friedrich Starke

contributed some of his Op. 119. We apparently don't know if Beethoven subscribed to the precise definitions of lengths of these articulations, but he did make the distinction between the two. Beethoven: "Where there is a dot above a note a dash must not be put instead, and vice versa...they are not identical."
     Unfortunately, publishers were sometimes cavalier in their representation of these similar marks in their editions, so we are not always sure what was intended. And composers were not always consistent in their usage—I'm thinking now of Schubert, who was apparently somewhat casual proofing gallies. At the risk of sounding like a secluded monk trying to decide how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, I hasten to point out that a first edition of the Mazurkas (1834?) edited by Maurice Schlesinger, placed dots on the three quarter-note Es (Ex. 3), not wedges. All subsequent editions in popular use place wedges over those notes.
     So, after all that, musical context and artistic instinct are the deciding factors. In example 2, I would aim for a separation (not an accent) for the wedges, leaving the most strength for the accented third beat. Unsystematic accents on the second or third beats were characteristic of the Mazurka. Pedal, yes, but discreetly.