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Topic: First Sorrow Opus No 16 Questions.  (Read 3993 times)

Offline nocturneop2

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First Sorrow Opus No 16 Questions.
on: June 16, 2011, 12:25:39 AM
I decided my next piece I'd learn would be First Sorrow Opus No 16 by Schumann, but there are some elements I'm not sure of.

https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/707/90683299.jpg/

What do these brackets labeled 1. 2., 2. 2. mean?

https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/84/88512051.jpg/

There is a group of notes above another group of notes. Are these called voices? There must be a reason why there are 2 single notes, instead of just turning them into a chord. How are they played?

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Offline bachbrahmsschubert

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Re: First Sorrow Opus No 16 Questions.
Reply #1 on: June 16, 2011, 02:02:42 AM
I decided my next piece I'd learn would be First Sorrow Opus No 16 by Schumann, but there are some elements I'm not sure of.

https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/707/90683299.jpg/

These are repeat marks. The bracket with the 1 under it means you play that for the first time, then when you repeat the section, you skip the [1] and play [2]. The smaller numbers under the bracket are fingering suggestions left by either Schumann or the editor.

Quote
https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/84/88512051.jpg/

Yes, this is called voicing. This is a technique used to show the independence of each voice. There are more reasons as to why some music is written this way, but don't worry about that. It's not written as a single chord (at least with this example) because the notes have different durations. Take the last measure in the image as an example. The alto (the lowest of the two voices in the treble clef) is a half note while the soprano (top notes) are eighth notes. It would be incorrect to stem these together, so Schumann correctly writes them as separate voices.

Best wishes,
 

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