The Short

STACCATO, LEGATO, AND NON-LEGATO 169
for the performer to consider whether a specific non-legato (or indeed non-staccato) style of performance might be
required.
Staccato, Legato, and Non-Legato (or ‘Non-Staccato’?)
There has been a broad consensus among students of performing practice that, on the basis of a number of important
sources, a more highly articulated manner of performing unmarked notes (i.e. notes without either slurs or articulation
marks) was prevalent in the mid-eighteenth century than in the mid-nineteenth century. While this is likely to be
broadly true, the matter is far from straightforward. Theoretical sources provide much evidence for the types of
articulation available to instrumentalists and singers, and the manner in which these were to be executed. In keyboard
playing this is linked with the development of the piano, and in string playing with changing designs of bow; in wind
playing the evolution of the instruments themselves seems to be of less importance, but approaches to wind
articulation will have been influenced by general stylistic trends. Different theoretical sources undoubtedly illuminate
the differing practices of a variety of schools and traditions, and they catalogue changes over time.
Composers' usages may sometimes appear to reflect a direct and explicit connection between the notation (together
with any other performance directions included in the score) and the type of execution envisaged. On the other hand,
the connection between notation and execution is often unclear, and much may depend on the extent to which the
composer relied on the performer's understanding of the conventions that applied to particular circumstances and
contexts. This is especially important in the music of the second half of the eighteenth century, when, although
theorists liked to link specific performance techniques to distinct notational practices, few composers concerned
themselves with that level of detail. As Joseph Riepel remarked in his Gründliche ErklÄrung der Tonordnung (1757), after
describing a sophisticated range of articulation marks that signified different kinds of execution: ‘I have included the
strokes and dots again only for the sake of explanation; for one does not see them in pieces of music except perhaps
sometimes when it is necessary on account of clarity.’ 305 Even this seems to be a rather idealistic statement, to judge
from the surviving manuscript and printed material, where clarity in this respect is rarely encountered. Although
nineteenth-century composers were generally more inclined to notate their required articulation with greater precision,
there is still considerable scope for misunderstanding in the music of that period, especially where notes were left with
neither articulation marks nor slurs.
305 (Frankfurt-am-Main and Leipzig, 1757), 16.