The Short

122 NOTATION OF ACCENTS AND DYNAMICS
Ex. 3.71. Verdi: (a) Requiem; (b) Messa per Rossini
For Schumann, as for Czerny, the sign normally denoted a degree of accent greater than >. This is suggested in his
Album für die Jugend, where the piece ‘Fremder Mann’, which is marked Stark und krÄftig zu spielen (to be played strongly
and powerfully), has mostly ⌃ in forte and > in piano sections; and in ‘JÄgerliedchen’, where both signs occur in close
juxtaposition, the former seems to imply the heavier emphasis (Ex. 3.72.) The sign does not appear in Schumann's
First Symphony, but in the Second he used it, in conjunction with repeated fs, evidently to designate a weighty accent.
The sign occurs more often in the Third Symphony, but in the second movement it is used, somewhat puzzlingly, over
a staccato dot in a piano passage. That Schumann did not regard it as synonymous with sf is clearly indicated by its use
in the Violin Sonata op. 121 (Ex. 3.73.) Since Schumann appears not to have used rfas an accent mark, it seems
possible that, if not always quite consistently, he was in general agreement with Gollmick's earlier opinion about the
ranking, in descending order of strength, of sf, ⌃, and >. As with Meyerbeer, however, the form of the sign may also
have implied a different type of accent from >.