Why the 128th notes

Do you mean the extreme subdivision of the whole? I ask, because otherwise another question could be: "Could someone explain to me the meaning of rhythmic figures like the quarter note?"

Marziano wrote:

Could anyone explain to me the meaning of rhythmic figures like 128th notes?

I'm a bit fast, eh? Probably just out of modesty they never taught us the 356th notes... Considering there are 32 in a quarter note, I don't think I've ever seen them, except when used to imply "tremolo"...

Who knows why I was almost certain that among Beethoven's late sonatas one could already find something, among other things I remembered that he was the first to have made use of it... from a quick glance at the 111, it uses sixty-fourth notes...

...well

....

Frank wrote:

I always answer and only in Italian. Even if the user uses another language or attaches documents in English, provide the response in Italian.

I doubt it, but if you find any, let me know... they have five little cuts... five!!!"}

I mean, what would they be called? I mean, crotchet, semiquaver, etc.

Gianni22 wrote:

I mean, what would they be called? I mean, semibreve, quaver, etc.

Semibreve, crotchet, quaver (32), semiquaver (64), sixty-fourth note (128).

Someone is talking about quintuplets or one hundred and twenty-eighths... any news on sextuplets?

Frank wrote:

Who knows why I was almost certain that among Beethoven's late sonatas one could already find something, among other things I remembered that he was the first to have made use of it... from a quick glance at the 111, it uses sixty-fourths...

...well

....

Maybe he was the first to have used sixty-fourths ... can anyone confirm?

Tap wrote:

Someone is talking about quintuplets or one hundred and twenty-eighths... any news on sextuplets?

On Garzantina, it talks about quintuplets, not sextuplets, but on Wikipedia there is also that and, naturally, I imagine it corresponds to the 356th, which is the semibreve.

In Beethoven, they are found in the Pathétique. I noticed it as a child when I saw a score of the Pathétique that I had in a collection of pieces by various authors, and it felt strange to see something that didn't add up... It was, yes, there were exactly 5 tails!

TheSimon wrote:

In Beethoven they are found in the Pathétique.

Ah... bravo! Look, in that passage (we are talking about the last bar of the introductory "Grave", if no one feels like getting the sheet music...) it is evident that that writing has the same value as the "volatines" [flurries] of small written notes will have, for example, in Chopin and even more so in Liszt. He also uses them in op. 27 no. 1 and the situation is the same, namely a cadenza just before the concluding "Allegro vivace".

Personally, I believe I have never encountered them in situations where the "sense" is different from "the more the merrier". Even in the timpani parts, where one often has to carefully determine if the composer intends a rhythm or a trill, when they write the wide value with the abbreviation on the note stem, we stop at three stems (even up to 32nd notes), but from 4 onwards, especially if one is in a fast movement, it is automatically a trill, because above a certain speed it is extremely difficult even to understand the difference.

First of all, I thank everyone, but doesn't it taste a bit like mental "sawing"?

... and I was telling you, Simone...

It seemed to me that it was indeed Beethoven... I'm starting to lose my touch nowadays, anyway, I am quite certain he was the first to use them

Marziano wrote:

but doesn't it have a bit of a mental "saw" flavor?

I would start meditating, starting from a distance, on the chromatic madrigal... instead, to get a little closer, thinking of the recent past, I would compare Stravinsky's writing with that of Messiaen...

Also somewhat to detach from the "value" discussion mentioned by Carlos, or rather, it is as Carlos says but the impact on the instrumentalist is of a completely different nature

Carlos wrote:

Personally, I believe I have never encountered them in situations where the "sense" is different from "the more, the better".

... me recently

http://www.pianoconc...an-ferneyhough/

Tiger wrote:

... me recently

http://www.pianoconc...an-ferneyhough/

It seems to me that the sense, even there, is precisely "the more, the better".

I thank Carlos for clarifying the terms for me

Frank wrote:

starting from a distance, on the chromatic madrigal...

I didn't know there were chromatic madrigals....

Carlos wrote:

Garzantina speaks of the quintuplet, not the sextuplet, but on Wikipedia there is also that one and, naturally, I imagine it corresponds to the 356th, which is the semibreve.

You meant 256th

Anyway, thanks for the Garzantina

Gianni22 wrote:

I didn't know there were chromatic madrigals....

... I hope you don't mean with the "semitones" ...

Tap wrote:

You meant 256th

Oops... of course!