Frederick Neumann
Dots and strokes in Mozart
Mozart's use of dots and strokes in his notation has given
rise to much debate. The old Gesamtausgabe (1877-1910)
used with few exceptions only dots, and so did all the
numerous editions derived from it. A number of
scholars up to the present have held that Mozart inten-
ded no difference in meaning between the two symbols.
The most distinguished among them was Alfred Ein-
stein, editor of the third edition of the Kochel catalogue,
who believed that the dots were simply strokes shrunken
due to haste. Paul Mies, in an article of 1958,' similarly
ascribed the differences between the two signs to the
Schreibfaktor ('writing factor'). He argued that either
symbol was used whenever it fell more easily to the hand.
Thus, for instance, for single notes or chords the stroke
was simpler to write; for a series of notes in a row, the
dots were easier. Mies saw no intended musical differ-
ence and therefore suggested that editors should use
only dots. The latest follower of this school of thought is
Robert D. Riggs, who, in a Harvard dissertation of 1987^
tried to dispose once and for all of what he calls the
'dualism' (a term he adopted from Mies), i.e. the belief in
an intended difference between the two signs.
In 1954 the Gesellschaft fur Musikforschung invited a
competition on the question: 'What is the meaning of
the signs wedge, stroke and dot in Mozart's autographs
and first editions; did Mozart intend a differentiation,
and how should the signs be reproduced in new edi-
tions?' Of the five answers published by Barenreiter in
1957,3 four scholars—Hermann Keller, Hubert Unver-
ncht, Oswald Jonas and Alfred Kreutz—pointed up dis-
tinct differences between stroke and dot (all were agreed
that the wedge is simply a printer's equivalent for the
stroke). Only one, Ewald Zimmermann, saw no inten-
ded difference between the two signs
The Neue Mozart Ausgabe (hereafter NMA) (Kassel,
1955-) came out on the side of'dualism' and has system-
atically tried to reproduce as faithfully as possible the
two distinct signs while various of its editors explained
the rationale for this editorial policy.4 But since the con-
troversy is still very much alive, it seems advisable to take
a new look at this issue
Mozart's autographs reveal his use of clear strokes and
clear dots. Einstein, Mies and Riggs all acknowledged
this fact; these scholars simply denied any musical sig-
nificance to the graphic difference. It is, however, not
possible to accept this judgement in view of the con-
sistency with which either sign appears in very specific
musical contexts. The true facts of the matter have been
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clouded by many cases where the exact nature of the
staccato did not greatly matter and where consequently
Mozart made no deliberate effort to distinguish the two
types. The result of this casual attitude is a grey area
where the two signs are not clearly differentiated graph-
ically and can in fact become synonymous.
But outside that grey area Mozart used strokes and
dots deliberately for different purposes We can group
those different purposes into several categories: three for
the stroke, two for the dot. In between these two groups
lies the 'grey area' of casualness. For the discussion of
these categories it will be helpful to borrow the very
clever metaphors with which Joseph Joachim, the
famous 19th-century violinist, characterized the types of
staccato as 'snow', 'rain' and 'hail'. Though focused on
the bouncing bow of the violin, with a few grains of salt,
these types can be transferred to other media as well.
Turning first to the stroke, Mozart used it deliberately
in the following three ways: (1) to indicate an accent
without a staccato, (2) to indicate a staccato with special
emphasis of either accent or sharpness, ranging from
hail to heavy rain; (3) to mark a staccato, usually without
special emphasis, that serves to separate clearly a single
note from a group of slurred notes.
As to the first category, the accent without staccato,
the modern accentual sign > was not available to
Mozart. But the stroke as accentual sign had already
been used by older composers, among them Bach,
Handel and Telemann.
Ex.ia from the 'Haffner' Symphony shows two
emphasized heavy-raindrop staccato notes followed by a
third, tied to its neighbour, where the stroke can only
have accentual meaning The same is true of exx.ib and
IC from the 'Jupiter' Symphony, since a note has to be
reasonably short for the stroke to be perceived as stac-
cato sign, shorter certainly than a dotted minim in alle-
gretto or tied semibreves in any tempo.s
As to the second category, a staccato with emphasis,
EARLY M U S I C AUGUST 1993 429
Fx.i hx.ib
la) I • ,11

1*11:11}

ih)

r i i 4

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Kx.2U

ow.2.1 .md h from the m i n u e t of the Striim Q i u r t o ! in !'.
K=;~S. show an mterestiny iuxdiposition of dots and
strokes. [ : irst we see, in pnino. unmistakable dots over
the c r o t d i c t s in all instrument^, tolloucd In dot^ o \ e r a
siniilarlv gentle des^endine passaue ol the tirst wohiis.
I li.it the dots wort' purposeful, not d u e to Mies s wntiim
taetor. becomes clear at the start ol the second s e u i o n
< e \ . ; b i , where the t h e m e returns in forte: here u e see-
clear strokes to indicate e m p h a t i c torcetulness.
In ex.^c, from I ' u n i i i o \ a i m i s diiel u i i h the < t>m-

4 3 (I I-ARIV Ml'Sic: AVCiL'ST 1 9 9 3

HX.2C
Kx.2d
K. 246/3 (Tempo di Menuetto)
Vnl
mendatore, the strokes call for power and sharpness to
evoke the violence of sword thrusts. We find the same
clear strokes in the imitative response of the basses. It is
unthinkable that in this passage Mozart would have
written dots instead.
Ex.2d (like ex.2g below) was copied from the auto-
graph, which was not accessible for reproduction. It is
from the third movement of the 'Liitzow' Piano Con-
certo, K242, and shows accentual emphasis put into
sharp focus in a pattern of a clear stroke over the first,
dots over the following quavers—a pattern repeated a
number of times in exactly the same manner.
F-X.lf
r\ t-t
Often word meaning calls for more emphatic artic-
ulation which is evoked in notation by clear strokes. See
for instance ex.2e from the first quintet of Die Zau-
berflote, where the forceful words 'Hass, Verleumdung,
schwarzer Galle' ('hatred, calumny, black gall') are
reflected by a similarly forceful hail-type articulation
that is indicated by clear strokes for the violins. In this
sequence of quavers the 'writing factor' would have
called for dots! Related is the case with Sarastro's stern
announcement 'wenn ich dich ihren Handen liesse'
('[you would be deprived of happiness] were I to leave
you in her hands'): here, as shown in ex.2f, Mozart
underlines an emphatic crescendo to the climax of the
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phrase with the word 'staccato' (in the left upper corner)
and decisive strokes in violins and basses.
Ex.2g shows a similar case where Mozart combines
the spelled-out 'staccato' with clear strokes. It is a pass-
age in Cosifan tutte set to Dorabella's words: 'See the fire
in his eyes that seem to shoot off flames and darts.' The
strokes are also consistent throughout two bars of
accompanying semiquavers in the violas and basses. The
staccato should be of the 'hail' type.
Turning to the third category, of strokes that serve to
separate clearly a single note from a group of slurred
notes that either precede or follow, we could call them
'separation strokes'. We find strokes in such patterns as
shown in ex.3a so overwhelmingly, that we can identify
sporadic dots as shrunken strokes. Illustrations are given
in ex.3b from the D minor String Quartet for an upbeat,
and ex.3C from Die Zauberflote for a downbeat. Though
once in a while such separation strokes may have a slight
accentual implication—as perhaps in ex.}c—in the
majority of cases they do not. Their purpose seems to be
-
simply that of differentiating a clear staccato separation
from the very mild non-legato separation in such places
as those of ex.3d from the start of the 'Hunt' Quartet,
K458, or ex.3e from the start of the A major Quartet,
K464. In the 'Hunt' Quartet the single note, on the many
appearances of the theme throughout the movement,
never has a dot or a stroke. In the A major Quartet,
among 20-odd entrances of the complete theme (with
the upbeat), twice Mozart wrote a stroke: at the start of
the development for the first violin, four bars later for
the imitative entrance of the cello, but not for the similar
entrance in between, of the middle strings. On the basis
of these two instances, the NMA placed editorial strokes
over every single upbeat. I believe this to be a mistake: in
view of the gross statistical disparity the two instances
are more likely to be an oversight, or an isolated direc-
tive, rather than an indication of an articulatory inten-
EARLY M U S I C AUGUST 1993 431
hx. 3a tx. 3b

|LT
tion that is to be spread over the
whole movement.''
Adjoining the third category of
purposeful strokes, the 'grey area'
follows as fourth category. This is the
ordinary, all-purpose staccato with
no implication of either accent,
emphasis or special sharpness. Here

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the staccato ranges presumably from
'snow' to 'rain' but hardly to 'hail'. It
is here where, given the speed of
Mozart's writing, the exact character
of the staccato was not important l.x. 3c
enough for him to make a conscious
effort at graphic differentiation, and
where, as a consequence, dots and
strokes have the same meaning. For
two illustrations see ex.4a from the
Overture to Don Giovanni, where
the two violins have a mixture of i;.\. 3d
strokes, dots and no marks, without
any apparent rationale; and ex.4b
from the Violin Sonata in Bb, K454, *£=
where in the violin part (above) and
the right hand of the piano, dots and
strokes are haphazardly mixed. It is
this grey area that has engendered
much of the confusion that beclouds
the issue. The confusion yields when
we realize that we have to do with a I \. 3c
///////(•(/area, however large, and that
the unionists', if I mav use this term, A.'hi*
made the mistake ot extrapolating ,- • t -.
the ambiguity and interchange-
ability within this limited area to the
whole scope ot Mozart's staccato
notation.
1.x.
Category 5 is the purposeful use ft
the dot. In view ot the 'grey area', it is
not always easy to identify dots as
being purposeful. We can do so con-
hdentlv in c.ist"> like tho one ot
exx.ia or 3c above, where the dots
are written in clear contrast to
strokes. We find similar striking mx
la posit ions in the finale ot I he 'lupi-

432 EARI.V Ml'SIC Al'lifST 1993

 x.4b

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ter' Symphony, where the contrast between the signs
helps set off two of the five main motives of the move-
ment: the angular four-note motive with its downward
leaps of a 5th and a 7th is marked throughout the move-
ment by strokes, and the linear, stepwise ascending six-
note motive is marked throughout by dots. Onfiveocca-
sions, where the two themes happen to be joined, the
consistently repeated pattern of strokes for the four-
note, dots for the six-note theme, prove a purposeful dif-
ferentiation (the NMA missed this differentiation in all
five cases). We see: in ex.sa the first violins with this
theme combination; in ex.sb the first oboe in a parallel
spot; in ex.5c on the upper stave the cellos (in the tenor
clef) first with the twice-repeated dotted linear theme,
then the angular four-note theme, marked with strokes,
joining (now in the bass clef) in bar 401 the basses in a
third of the five themes; on the lower stave the basses
announcing the angular theme, with strokes, followed
by a dotted fragment of the linear theme (in support of
the cellos) leading into the third theme with its signal-

Ex. 5a Ex. 5c

Ex. 5b
1 »
,., Ifr t&
is if FFF*-
Ex. 5c

Ex. 5d
•

,f f
-1 r?
1

"- T «
EARLY MUSIC AUGUST 1993 433
hx. 6 like opening and descending quaver passagework. In a
\ fifth instance, given in ex.sd, the cellos, again in the
tenor clef, have the combined angular and linear

±t
V*-*-H TTTi^t theme—the first with strokes, the second with dots—
while the basses, in bar 383, give out the fourth of the five
themes, with strokes in pure accentual meaning, as
proved by the third minim that is tied to its neighbour. I
believe these examples offer eloquent testimony against
the unionists' theories. At the same time this differ-
entiation acts as agent of effective phrasing by tellingly
setting off the two heterogeneous themes from one
another—provided the director is aware of Mozart's
signs and interprets them correctly with greater sharp-
ness for the strokes.
Other than in such cases of clear juxtaposition, dots
can be assumed to be purposeful when there is graphic
consistency, and especially when such consistency is
combined with gentle expression. For an illustration see
ex.5e from Zerlina's Act 2 aria, where she caressingly
comforts the battered Masetto. Passages with presum-

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ably purposeful dots should be rendered gracefully,
without sharpness, from 'snow' to light 'rain'.
The sixth category is the very frequent combination of
slurs and dots—dots, never strokes. It indicates the
gentlest form of detachment. See for an illustration ex.6
from Donna Anna's first accompanied recitative. This
use of dots with slurs is so consistent that I have not
found a single instance where in this combination the
dots were not clearly identifiable as such. Even Riggs
confirms the total consistency of this usage. In accord
with its graphic image, the desired detachment stands
half-way between a mild staccato and a legato. The effect
is more a portato than a staccato. In modern notation it

pm would be marked with horizontal dashes under a slur.

Further evidence about the intended difference
between the two signs is shown in ex.7. In the first finale
of Die Zauherflotc Mozart revised the staccato signs.
What happened here was apparently an attempt to
change strokes into dots; and it is dots he wrote for the
immediate repeat of the theme. Although later in the
scene Mozart made no determined effort to use clear

Ex.7

434 EARLY MUSIC. A K . I S I 1993

dots for parallel spots, the fact of an intended correction
is significant in itself.
Briefly summing up, there seems to be little doubt BRIDGEWOOD & NEITZERT
that Mozart distinguished dots and strokes, and while he
was nonchalant about the graphic shapes where it
MAKERS, RESTORERS AND
mattered little, he distinguished the signs with deliber- DEALERS
ation where it did matter. By so doing he gave us price- of
less clues for a richer, more colourful, and sometimes
more dramatic, range of expression than the score could
Lutes and Viols, Violins, Violas,
suggest without the eloquence of the two signs Cellos and Basses
SPECIALIST STRINGS—Pyramid Savarez,
Frederick Neumann is Professor of Music Emeritus of the Pirastro, CHD, Kurschner, NRI, "Carbon", Aquila,

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University of Richmond, Virginia His latest book, Per-
Plain and High twist gut and fretgut
formance practices of the 17th and 18th century, is due to
appear before the end of the year He has published several MAIL ORDER SERVICE FOR STRINGS
books focusing on questions of ornamentation and rhythm,
and has started work on a study of Beethoven's ACCESSORIES and CASES
ornamentation.

'P Mies, 'Die Artikulations/.eichen Stnch und Punkt bei Wolfgang

NEW ADDRESS
Amadeus Mo?art', Die Musikforschung, xi (1958), pp 428-55
2
R D Riggs, Articulation in Mozart's and Beethoven's sonatas for 146 Stoke Newington Church Street,
piano and violin (diss, Harvard U , 1987)
'Die Bedeutung der Zewhen Kcil Stnch und Punkt bei Mozart (Kassel,
Stoke Newington, London N16 OUH.
1957)
4
Tel: 071-249 9398
For instance, Rudolph Elvers in the preface to NMA IV/13/1, p x
5
For this reason Riggs's statement that the stroke alwavs means 'sep-
arated and, only if the context implies, some degree of accentuation' French Baroque Music
(p 206) is unconvincing
"On the basis of the NMA's editorial strokes the La Salle Quartet from Broude Brothers Limited
played every upbeat in this piece with a strong accent, the unbalancing
effect of which was enhanced by a rubato hesitation Scholarly Editions & Reference Works
Hardel The Collected Works for Keyboard
Edited by Bruce Gustafson £20 00
Meredith Ellis Little and Carol G. Marsh
La Danse Noble An Inventory of Dances
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EARLY MUSIC AUGUST 1993 435

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436 EARLY M U S I C AUGUST 1993