The Short

Ex. 6.55.Spohr, Fourth Symphony Die Weihe der Töne op. 86/i
Ex. 6.56.Mendelssohn, Third Symphony op. 56/iv
DOTS AND STROKES 255
A good example of the slurred staccato is found in the Scherzo of the Octet, and this is probably also the bowing
required in the last movement of his Piano Trio op. 66, dedicated to Spohr, whose performance of the slurred staccato
Mendelssohn admired (Ex. 6.57.) A lighter staccato or spiccato seems to have been intended in the last movement of
Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, while in the first movement of the same concerto the dots under slurs in the wind and
solo violin part in the second subject clearly indicate portato (Ex. 6.58(a) and (b).) Mendelssohn's friend, the violinist
Ferdinand David, marked the latter passage with lines under slurs in his edition of the concerto (Ex. 6.58(c).)
Even singers could sometimes be expected to execute dots under a slur as sharply articulated notes rather than as
portato. An interesting example of this can be found in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, where flute and oboe have a figure
of repeated semiquavers which is immediately answered by the solo soprano in inversion. Both figures are notated with
dots and slurs, but Meyerbeer has indicated for the wind instruments ‘appuyez chaque note’ (press each note), and for
the voice ‘saccadé’ (jerkily) (Ex. 6.59.)
While most writers before the middle of the nineteenth century seem to have been relatively unconcerned by the
ambiguities of notating portato, slurred staccato, springing staccato, and spiccato, the French violinist Baillot attempted
greater precision. For a succession of notes played in a single rebounding bowstroke—a type of bowing discouraged by
most German authorities at that time—he proposed strokes or wedges under a slur. He also observed that since dots
under a slur could mean both a very smooth portato