Re: Piano voices

[Urs Liska]

Hi Joram,
Am 07.11.2014 11:48, schrieb Noeck:
> Hi,
>
> this is a question more about music notation than Lilypond:
>
> I typeset the Prelude V by Rachmaninoff in Lilypond and I tried to use
> two voices per Staff for it. I chose the voice (1,2,3,4) from the
> direction of the stems in the original notation and partly from the
> musical context. Here is the result so far, the voices are coloured:
>
> http://joramberger.de/files/rach-prelude23-05.pdf
>
> Could anyone of you how knows piano music and its notation help me and
> say if that is done correctly (also in general but in particular the
> assignment of voices)?

I've quickly looked through the score, and I think the voicing is 
completely right. No problems that I noticed.

> The original is some times a bit inconsistent concerning the use of s
> and r rests and concerning the stem directions. In particular, if the
> same motive appears again, the stems directions may be switched. Would
> you keep close to the original? Is there a reason for that?

This is a much more complicated question. Basically it boils down to the 
question of your scholarly demands. If you want to do it "right" there 
are two "minimal" approaches:

1) make everything exactly as in the original.
2) make everything consistent and document all differences.

2) is the basic approach to a scholarly edition because a user can 
reconstruct the original from the given information.
But in a real scholarly edition you'd want to come to conclusions about 
the intentions of the composer (or copyist or engraver, which makes 
things more complicated). You should try to find out *if* there's a 
reason for the inconsistencies or if they are mere sloppiness or if the 
composer just didn't care about that aspect.
Then you have to decide *which* aspects are worth being documented. For 
example: differing pitches or rhythms should definitely be documented. 
Differences in cautionary accidentals are a much less clear case - they 
*can* make a difference, but OTOH they don't change the actual musical 
text. And finally stem directions (or assignment of voices to staves in 
piano music) can sometimes be simply ignored, sometimes not - depending 
on the edition and depending on the music.

> What would be your advice?

My advice is just a guess because I don't know enough about the 
circumstances:

Try finding an answer to the question: "Could these inconsistencies in 
any way be significant or are they arbitrary?".
This answer can also "only" a strong opinion.

If you find it's really significant then of course engrave according to 
it, otherwise don't hesitate to do it "correctly" according to today's 
standards.
If you find it can have any significance then provide a list in the 
appendix listing the differing readings of the original.
If you find it doesn't have any significance then add a comment stating 
which aspects of the original were subject to modernization without notice.

HTH
Urs

> Thanks for any help.
> Joram
>
>
> PS: This is work in progress and there is no fine tuning at all.
>
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