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Topic: Alban Berg's Sonata - I don't understand the accidentals  (Read 1719 times)

Offline countorlok

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Hello everyone, this is my first time posting here.  :)

I really like Alban Berg's Sonata. So I have been reading through it, for the past couple of days. And one thing keeps confusing me. Why did he add accidentals, that use the same notes, as the key signature? The piece has a B minor key signature, but the first bar notates a  G natural, B natural  and F sharp. I know it's a tonally ambiguous piece, but I still don't understand why it's notated like this.

Any input on why it does this, would be most appreciated.

https://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Sonata,_Op.1_(Berg,_Alban)

Offline retrouvailles

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Re: Alban Berg's Sonata - I don't understand the accidentals
Reply #1 on: July 19, 2010, 05:08:57 AM
Those are what are commonly known as cautionary accidentals. Sometimes you will see them with parentheses. They're commonly found in music that is freely or loosely tonal, atonal, or anything that can be seen as not being conventionally tonal, or just in a very chromatic section of a work for clarification.

Offline countorlok

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Re: Alban Berg's Sonata - I don't understand the accidentals
Reply #2 on: July 19, 2010, 05:58:02 AM
Thanks for answering my question. I have read  music with, cautionary accidentals before. But I guess the way they are used in this sonata, just seemed odd to me.
 

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