What does this V-Shaped Slur denote?

Question

It looks like a regular slur, but at an obtuse angle. This example is from Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No. 1, where it connects an F natural to an E. I have only seen this a couple of times, so I'm just kind of curious what it's supposed to mean.

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 27 '19 at 22:03

9

It's an accent that applies to both notes. In the Peters edition (2007, ed. Leslie Howard), bars 748 and 752, a footnote makes this explicit:

Liszt's special accent requires a stress on all the notes under the symbol.

In recordings you can often hear the accent implemented as an (extremely) momentary ritardando, as well as the usual increase in loudness.

answered Oct 27 '19 at 22:03

Camille Goudeseune

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Interesting - wonder why Liszt considered this different from just putting an accent on both notes? – Carl Witthoft Oct 28 '19 at 14:17
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At that whirlwind speed, those two notes are felt as a single event. An articulation mark on each individual note risks damaging the built-up momentum. – Camille Goudeseune Oct 28 '19 at 20:55
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@CarlWitthoft Apart from the artistic reason Camille gave (which I think is plausible too) Liszt required himself to write a set number of pages a day so he employed a number of shorthands. – 11684 Oct 31 '19 at 09:28

Alphonso Balvenie · Answer 2 · 2019-10-31T04:54:18.793

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Although not applicable to the piano piece in the question (the use of which is in the accepted answer), but to clarify for people that may see a similar mark used in student pieces, who may otherwise be confused:

In some instructional method books and corresponding pieces, the mark is used to indicate a half step in a new scale or fingering position. Sometimes it is added as a "courtesy mark", as a reminder of the half step, or for clarity.

Here is an example of use from the "Muller Rusch Violin Method" violin book indicating a half step between E and F natural:

Here is another example from "A Tune A Day" violin book indicating that the finger position for C# and G notes are a half step apart from each other:

Rubanks Elementary Method uses what looks like a Piano pedal bracket to indicate the half step instead.

edited Oct 31 '19 at 04:54

answered Oct 27 '19 at 21:29

Alphonso Balvenie

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Doubtful -- can you provide published examples? – Carl Witthoft Oct 28 '19 at 14:17
Muller violin method and A Tune A Day off the top of my head. seems pretty common in some of the older method books. I included it as an answer since more information is usually better, but I guess it should have been a comment. – Alphonso Balvenie Oct 28 '19 at 19:09
Also, Essential Elements 2000 for strings, page 32, uses a similar mark. – Alphonso Balvenie Oct 28 '19 at 19:16
Rubanks Elementary Method uses what looks like a pedal bracket to indicate the half step instead. – Alphonso Balvenie Oct 28 '19 at 19:21
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Not sure why the downvotes, I've seen this notation as well, and this is a nice answer to have for future visitors. – Richard Oct 28 '19 at 19:37
@Richard I downvoted due to lack of citation -- now that comments have provided those I've copied them into the answer. (and upvoted) – Carl Witthoft Oct 29 '19 at 12:34
@Richard likewise. – Camille Goudeseune Oct 29 '19 at 13:29
When I get a chance, I'll scan and upload some examples, and clean up the answer. – Alphonso Balvenie Oct 29 '19 at 18:56

What does this V-Shaped Slur denote?

2 Answers2