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In the old Kalmus handwritten conductor's score for The Mikado, a few notes in the overture had a unfamiliar notation. For example, here's Measure 50 from the oboe part (other instruments have similar notation):

enter image description here

I'm reading the small vertical marks as "staccatissimo", but what's that backwards "less than" sign? Isn't a standard "accent" written as a "greater than" sign?

David H
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  • This "backwards" symbol appears throughout the overture, but in Act I, Scene 1, he uses sf and in Act 1 scene 2 there are "normal" accents (e.g., m. 104; 2 m. after L). – Aaron Apr 23 '22 at 23:44
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    If "16va" is a thing, I guess writing accent marks backwards isn't so bad. – Bennyboy1973 Apr 24 '22 at 00:44
  • I've seen the "reverse" accent in Musescore (in the articulations section) but never used it myself. Whenever I've seen and listened to misuses of it in scores in Musescore's website, I never quite figured out what it did. – Dekkadeci Apr 24 '22 at 21:49

3 Answers3

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I received this in a private email from Albert Bergeret, the Artistic Director of the NY G&S Players:

I had never taken notice of the mark that you mention, and I wouldn’t necessarily consider such notations in a Kalmus printed score to be those of the composer, however, by my own impression of the moments noted I would suggest that it implies a leaning into a particular note during its duration rather than the accent mark which implies a hard attack followed by a diminuendo. That’s how [I] hear the places where the notation you have noted appear.

I hope this answers your question, although I must say that my response is subjective, not authoritative.

David H
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  • I looked for an image of Sullivan's manuscript, but I didn't find it. think it's just a (poorly drawn) one-note crescendo. From the clarinet part on down the score, the angle is much more acute and the lines are slightly longer, making the sign look much more like a crescendo than an accent. In the brass parts it even extends a bit farther to the right than the note itself, which makes it look even more like a crescendo. – phoog Nov 13 '22 at 15:53
  • Though if that were the case it ought to be under the staff, not over it. I've written to the Royal Academy of Music library to see if they can help (they hold the autograph). – phoog Nov 13 '22 at 16:25
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It can either be a typo for an accent (to be corroborated by checking with analog passages and/or parts), or it can mean a reverse accent: a note starting softer and getting louder. Of course that requires an instrument with continuous tone control, like a bowed string or wind instrument.

  • “Reverse accent”? Is that a thing? Or did he invent it? Maybe that’s why he got knighted. – David H Apr 24 '22 at 19:03
  • This would be better left as a comment, as it's speculative and nonspecific. – Aaron Apr 24 '22 at 21:57
  • Reverse accents are pretty common in double bass parts I’ve read, especially on longer notes but sometimes fairly short ones too. You can just think of it as a quick crescendo on a note, just like a normal-direction accent can be thought of as ‘make the attack louder’, ie a short de-crescendo. – OwenM Apr 25 '22 at 17:16
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The Musescore desktop software program has the "reverse accent" labelled as "Fade in":

enter image description here

Dekkadeci
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