The Short

48 ACCENTUATION IN PRACTICE
Ex. 2.24.cont. (c)
Ex. 2.25.Müller, Klavier und Fortepiano Schule, 16
Ex. 2.26.G. Weber, Theory of Composition, i. 90
There seems to have been one important exception to the principle enunciated by Crelle and others, and it may have
been quite widespread. Philip Corri, writing about keyboard playing, agreed with the majority view when he noted that
‘the final note of a phrase [is] never to be played with emphasis unless marked’; but he added: ‘N.B. this rule is quite
reversed in singing as the last note should be sung with firmness and sustained long’. 119 Here he was echoing an aspect
of the teaching of his father, Domenico Corri, 120 and, perhaps a principle of the eighteenth-century Italian school.
Other Factors
Other criteria for the performer to apply emphasis where none was specifically notated were given by musical writers
throughout the period; each author had slightly different advice to offer, sometimes of a generalized nature and
sometimes applied to particular examples. Manuel Garcia recommended that the first note of every repetition of a
similar figure should be distinguished by greater weight (Ex. 2.27;) he felt that this was particularly applicable to
passages of dotted notes (Ex. 2.28) and that in certain circumstances the short note of the figure, too, should be
accented (Ex. 2.29.) He also suggested that use might be made of the so-called contra-tempo (Ex. 2.30.) 121 J. F.
Schubert had given
119 L'anima di musica, 73.
120 The Singer's Preceptor (London, 1810).
121 New Treatise, 52–4.