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In this score to the Barber of Seville, these rightward pointing triangles appear. I first thought that it may just be an unusual way of showing the accent mark > but this also appears. Does anyone know what these triangles mean?

enter image description here

Richard
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Richard N
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  • You say that regular accents also appear in this score. I'd like to see them. (Possibly in another screenshot, though I prefer you'd replace your current one.) – Dekkadeci Feb 22 '21 at 12:52

1 Answers1

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I've never seen this symbol before, but according to Dolmetsch, this triangle indicates:

strongly accented then immediate diminuendo

It's worth nothing that the example they give is also from Rossini, in his overture to Il signor Bruschino:

enter image description here

And this discussion on a Finale forum indicates that Rossini makes triangles of many of his crescendo and decrescendo markings by adding a vertical line to the wide end of the mark. I've somehow never noticed this; perhaps my Rossini scores have been edited.

In any event, my guess is that this notation is relatively Rossini-specific.

Richard
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  • Wait, did Rossini ever compose an overture meant specifically for *The Barber of Seville*? As far as I can tell, your screenshot does not match the piece best known as the overture for that opera, although I've heard that the piece best known as the overture for *The Barber of Seville* was composed for a different opera. – Dekkadeci Feb 22 '21 at 13:26
  • @Dekkadeci Dumb mistake on my part; it's the overture to *Il signor Bruschino*, I just mixed it up with the excerpt in the question. Thanks! – Richard Feb 22 '21 at 13:34