The Short

6 The Notation of Articulation and Phrasing
Dots and Strokes as Articulation Marks
Since the late nineteenth century editors and scholars have devoted much thought to the sorts of theoretical
distinctions that were historically made between various forms of articulation marks, illuminating a host of individual
views, which, though fairly clear and straightforward in themselves, are frequently incompatible with one another.
Theorists and authors of musical instruction books were divided between those who recognized a single staccato mark
and those who advocated two forms. 342 C. P. E. Bach, whose reputation as a composer made him perhaps the most
widely respected of all the eighteenthcentury theorists, took the view that only one mark for unslurred staccato was
necessary; but, stressing that one mark did not mean one kind of execution, he observed that the performer must
execute the staccato in different ways according to the length of the note, whether it is a minim, crotchet, or quaver,
whether the tempo is fast or slow, and whether the dynamic is forte or piano. 343 Bach's preference for a single staccato
mark for unslurred notes was echoed by, among others, Leopold Mozart (1756,) Reichardt (1776,) Türk (1789,) Hiller
(1792,) Müller (1804,) and Spohr (1832.) 344 Others, including Quantz (1752,) Riepel (1757,) Löhlein (1774,) Vogler
(1778,) Koch (1802,) Adam (1804,)
342
There seems no reason to distinguish between strokes and wedges; the wedge is essentially a printer's convention and, where it has any direct connection with a composer's
markings, will normally represent a stroke.
343
Versuch, i. III, §17.
344
Mozart, Versuch ; Reichardt, Ueber die Pflichten ;Türk, Klavierschule ; Johann Adam Hiller, Anweisung zum Violinspielen für Schulen und Selbstunterrichte
Klavier- und Fortepiano-Schule ; Spohr, Violinschule.
(Leipzig, 1792); Müller,