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what is the difference between these two? I know Sf is a dynamic, but what if it is already in a forte section?

and with sf do you play every note following as sf until another dynamic change or do you go back to the prior dynamic automatically?

Foxy
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  • Just to clarify: There's a misconception in the duplicate question that's affecting you as well. Unless perhaps there are a few rare exceptions that I don't know about, "*sf*" doesn't "start a forte passage." It only ever affects one single note. It's unlike, say "*fp*", after which one continues *piano*. In other words, I would not actually call *sf* "a dynamic," but rather an expression marking. – Andy Bonner Feb 10 '22 at 18:00
  • Hm... I'm starting to sense the need for something not covered in the proposed duplicate, a question for "What's the difference between *sf*, *sfz*, *fz*, and an accent?" (With the answer being "little that we can maintain dogmatically; only whatever difference we can document the composer intending; the first three can largely be regarded as variations on the same word across time and region, unless a given composer distinguishes among them; plus, all of them are going to come out sounding pretty similar.") – Andy Bonner Feb 11 '22 at 14:59

2 Answers2

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The accent is an articulation, with implications about how hard you attack the note. sf is a sudden change of dynamic for one note. In practice, it would be interesting to get a musician to play both and ask a panel of experts to vote which was which!

Laurence
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This can be the source of considerable confusion because sf is the abbreviation for two different things.

sf = sfz = sforzando/sforzato

sf = subito forte

Subito forte is a (sudden) change in dynamics to forte

sf / subito forte / suddenly loud

sfz / sfortzando / sudden accent

Matti Carter; Pianist's Handbook (2018)

This is misleading, because it fails to show that sf can be also be used for sfz.

Schumann uses mostly sf in his piano music, but he sometimes uses sfz in the same score—and even in the same passage:

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Novelletten, Op.21 n.1 (Henle)

(The sfz was apparently restored in the Henle urtext; I see sf in some early editions, including that by Clara Schumann.)

DjinTonic
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  • Your answer here also answers the proposed duplicate, [Does Sforzando really mean a stronger accent?](https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/89992/does-sforzando-really-mean-a-stronger-accent), very well. – Dekkadeci Feb 11 '22 at 14:07
  • Intriguing. I see that the Carter source says "subito forte" plain as day, but I've never encountered such a usage, only ones where a one-note effect is intended. For subito forte, I usually see "*sub. f*", or fully spelled out. I wonder whether there are many examples of "sf" for subito? I would imagine they might be limited to certain composers or perhaps are counter-practices by less-informed sources... – Andy Bonner Feb 11 '22 at 14:51
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    @AndyBonner If you google around, you'll see a bit of bulletin-board discussion about *sf* as *subito forte*. (Schumann has other more elaborate combos with *sf* that are often hard to fathom.) You can make a case that, unless there is a *cresc.* or *decrecs.* before it, any *f* after a different level of sound would start *subito*, i.e. coming after a *p* or even *ff* passage. – DjinTonic Feb 11 '22 at 15:06