The Short

74 NOTATION OF ACCENTS AND DYNAMICS
this interpretation of the marking indicates that such a usage may not have been universal even towards the middle of
the nineteenth century. In fact, among Meyerbeer's contemporaries, there seems often to have been a degree of
unclarity about the effect indicated by fp. Instances in Spohr's Faust indicate that he may have envisaged a more gradual
decrease of volume than that required by Meyerbeer (Ex. 3.18.) The same conclusion may be drawn from some of
Schumann's uses of the marking, as in the Trio op. 80, where, if the violin is to correspond with the piano, an abrupt
decrease in dynamic would hardly be appropriate (Ex. 3.19.)
Ex. 3.18. Spohr, Faust, no. 5
Ex. 3.19. Schumann, Piano Trio op. 80/i