The Short

78 NOTATION OF ACCENTS AND DYNAMICS
Ex. 3.22. Spohr, Faust, no. 7
Ex. 3.23. Mendelssohn, Piano Trio op. 49/ii
relatively light accent within a piano context, whereas fp in piano passages is more likely, in almost all cases, to indicate a
stronger dynamic contrast. In some instances sf/fz occurring in a piano dynamic was evidently meant to obtain a
powerful accent followed by a forte continuation, whereas in others, particularly where a composer did not make use
of sfp, an immediate return to the prevailing dynamic after an sf/fz in a piano passage will have been envisaged.
Examples of the former can be found in Haydn (Ex. 3.25,) though often when