The Short

Ex. 3.78. Beethoven, String Quartet op. 135/i
Ex. 3.79. Schumann, Lied op. 101/4
piano (Ex. 3.79; see also Ex. 3.37.) It is especially characteristic of the so-called Classical-Romantic German
composers, being quite common in Mendelssohn's, Brahms's, and Bruch's music, where it seems generally to require a
warm but not too powerful accent, perhaps with an agogic element in some instances, and a vibrato where appropriate
(Ex. 3.80(a).) Elgar, too used it in a similar manner in his late chamber music (Ex. 3.80(b) and (c)). 240
The Horizontal Line (-∸∸)
NOTATION OF ACCENTS AND DYNAMICS 127
The use of these signs by composers is rare before the middle of the nineteenth century, although they are mentioned
in instruction books at an earlier date. Herz's piano method includes the explanation ‘If the execution of a single note
240 Its concomitant implications for vibrato in string playing are considered below, Ch. 14, where further examples are given. See also Clive Brown, ‘Bowing Styles, Vibrato and
Portamento in Nineteenth-Century Violin Playing’, Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 113 (1988), 118–21.