Fandango

[musicus]

My question is about the sample attachment from Soler's Fandango.
The way the LH is notated in Meas.2 is different from meas.3. (The pattern
is similar throughout most of the piece.) Often it means the composer wants
the rest of it to be the same. What do you think? Should the articulation of
the LH be different in iterations of meas.3 from iterations of meas.2? (I'm
so glad I finally got to use the word "iterations.") Thanks!

[John Ruggero]

I think that it is ambiguous and may remain forever so, unfortunately.

As you know, older composers showed a simile by doing what Soler does in your example.They will indicate a certain manner of performance in normal notation like staccato dots, for example, and then break off unexpectedly in a totally illogical place. This to signal a simile. But a careful composer would have continued the double stemming through the entire pattern and then broken off if that is what they wanted, or again placed double stems in the fourth measure to make it clear that they didn't pertain to the third.

[musicus]

Thanks. I am unsure as to whether Soler meant to continue the double stems for the meas.3 LH pattern. So far, I'm playing the two measures differently and continuing that way throughout. I dunno, I might change my mind.

[John Ruggero]

Not knowing for sure is a good excuse for being creative. One possibility would be to continue holding the strong beats through until the finale two eighths in m. 3, where he breaks the beam, and play those two notes detached as pickups.