Hundred twenty-eighth note

Last updated
Beethoven used hundred twenty-eighth notes in the first movement of his Pathetique Sonata (Op. 13) 1-128th note.svg
Beethoven used hundred twenty-eighth notes in the first movement of his Pathétique Sonata (Op. 13)
A hundred twenty-eighth note with stem pointing up, a hundred twenty-eighth note with stem pointing down, and a hundred twenty-eighth rest. Hundred twenty-eighth notes and rest.png
A hundred twenty-eighth note with stem pointing up, a hundred twenty-eighth note with stem pointing down, and a hundred twenty-eighth rest.
Hundred twenty-eighth notes beamed together. Hundred twenty-eighth note run.png
Hundred twenty-eighth notes beamed together.

In music, a hundred twenty-eighth note (North American) or semihemidemisemiquaver [1] [2] or quasihemidemisemiquaver [3] (British) is a note played for 1⁄128 of the duration of a whole note. It lasts half as long as a sixty-fourth note. It has a total of five flags or beams.

A single 128th note is always stemmed with flags, while two or more are usually beamed in groups. [4] Notes this short are very rare in printed music, but not unknown. One reason that notes with many beams are rare is that, for instance, a thirty-second note at Figure rythmique noire hampe haut.svg = 50 lasts the same amount of time as a sixteenth note at Figure rythmique noire hampe haut.svg = 100; every note in a piece may be notated as twice as long but last the same amount of time if the tempo is also doubled. They are principally used for brief, rapid sections in slow movements. For example, they occur in the first movement of Beethoven's Pathétique Piano Sonata (Op. 13), to notate rapid scales. Another example is in Mozart's Variations on Je suis Lindor, where many of them are used in the slow twelfth variation. [5] [6] Likewise, 128th notes are used in the explicitly notated ornamental runs in the opening Adagio of Bach's g minor Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin (BWV 1001). [7]

These five-beamed notes also appear occasionally where a passage is to be performed rapidly, but where the actual tempo is at the discretion of the performer rather than being a strict division of the beat. In such cases, the aggregate time of the notes may not add up exactly to a full measure, and the phrase may be marked with an odd time division to indicate this. Sometimes such notation is made using smaller notes, sized like grace notes. One rare instance where such five-beamed notes occur as acciaccaturas occurs in the final measures of No. 2 of Charles-Valentin Alkan's Trois grandes études , Op. 76.

Hundred twenty-eighth rests are also rare, but again not unknown. One is used in Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 13 "Quasi una fantasia" (bar 24 in the adagio movement) where it is followed by an ascending run of 128th notes, [8] as well as in the finale of Charles-Valentin Alkan's Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges'. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Sonata No. 14 (Beethoven)</span> Piano sonata written by Beethoven in 1801

The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked Quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi. The name Moonlight Sonata grew popular later, likely after Beethoven's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles-Valentin Alkan</span> French composer and pianist (1813–1888)

Charles-Valentin Alkan was a French composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, among the leading pianists in Paris, a city in which he spent virtually his entire life.

In music notation, a sixty-fourth note, or hemidemisemiquaver or semidemisemiquaver (British), sometimes called a half-thirty-second note, is a note played for half the duration of a thirty-second note, hence the name. It first occurs in the late 17th century and, apart from rare occurrences of hundred twenty-eighth notes (semihemidemisemiquavers) and two hundred fifty-sixth notes (demisemihemidemisemiquavers), it is the shortest value found in musical notation.

Max Rostal was a violinist and a viola player. He was Austrian-born, but later took British citizenship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano sonata</span> Form of music for solo piano

A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement, others with two movements, some contain five or even more movements. The first movement is generally composed in sonata form.

A funeral march, as a musical genre, is a march, usually in a minor key, in a slow "simple duple" metre, imitating the solemn pace of a funeral procession. Some such marches are often considered appropriate for use during funerals and other sombre occasions, the best-known example being the third movement of Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2. Handel uses the name dead march, also used for marches played by a military band at military funerals.

E major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, and D♯. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, F-flat major, has six flats and the double-flat B, which makes it impractical to use.

C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E♭, F, G, A♭, and B♭. Its key signature consists of three flats. Its relative major is E♭ major and its parallel major is C major.

F major is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B♭, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor.

G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B♭, C, D, E♭, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major.

D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B♭, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major.

E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F♯, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major.

F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F♯, consisting of the pitches F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major.

F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A♭, B♭, C, D♭, and E♭. Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp minor, has six sharps and the double sharp F, which makes it impractical to use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges'</span> Piano sonata by Charles-Valentin Alkan

Grande sonate: Les quatre âges is a four movement sonata for piano by Charles-Valentin Alkan. The sonata's title refers to the subtitles given to each movement, portraying a man at the ages of 20, 30, 40, and 50. The work was published in 1847, dedicated to the composer's father, Alkan Morhange.

Olli Mustonen is a Finnish pianist, conductor, and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Two hundred fifty-sixth note</span> Musical note duration

In music, a two hundred fifty-sixth note, or occasionally demisemihemidemisemiquaver (British), is a note played for 1⁄256 of the duration of a whole note. It lasts half as long as a hundred twenty-eighth note and takes up one quarter of the length of a sixty-fourth note. In musical notation it has a total of six flags or beams. Since human pitch perception begins at 20 Hz (1200/minute), then a 256th-note tremolo becomes a single pitch in perception at quarter note ≈ 18.75 bpm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cello Sonata (Alkan)</span> Sonata for cello and piano composed by John Foulds

Charles-Valentin Alkan composed his Cello Sonata in Paris in 1856, titled Sonate de concert pour piano et violoncelle, Op. 47. The work in E major is structured in four movements.

References

  1. ↑ Read, Gardner (1979). Music Notation, p.65. 2nd edition. Crescendo Taplinger. ISBN   0-8008-5453-5.
  2. ↑ Haas, David (2011). "Shostakovich's Second Piano Sonata: A Composition Recital in Three Styles". In Fairclough, Pauline; Fanning, David (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Shostakovich. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 112. doi:10.1017/CCOL9780521842204.006. ISBN   978-1-139-00195-3. The listener is right to suspect a Baroque reference when a double-dotted rhythmic gesture and semihemidemisemiquaver triplets appear to ornament the theme.)[ full citation needed ]
  3. ↑ Miller, RJ (2015). Contemporary Orchestration: A Practical Guide to Instruments, Ensembles, and Musicians. Routledge. p. 38. ISBN   978-0-415-74190-3.
  4. ↑ Gerou, Tom (1996). Essential Dictionary of Music Notation, p.211. Alfred. ISBN   0-88284-730-9
  5. ↑ Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. 12 Variations on 'Je suis Lindor', K.354. p. 10, fourth system, last bar. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts Werke, Serie 21. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1877-1910. Plate W.A.M. 354.
  6. ↑ Thomas Bushnell BSG (8 November 2007). "Re: GPD: official shortest note in lilypond". mail-archive.com.
  7. ↑ Joel., Lester (1999). Bach's works for solo violin : style, structure, performance. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0195120973. OCLC   39739608.
  8. ↑ Piano Sonata No. 13, Op. 27, No. 1 (Beethoven) : Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  9. ↑ https://imslp.org/wiki/Grande_Sonate_'Les_Quatre_Ages'%2C_Op.33_(Alkan%2C_Charles-Valentin)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.