Interesting flat size

[OCTO]

Edition Peters, Grieg:

ArabischerTanz_2hdg_Peters.jpg (32.23 KiB) Viewed 12696 times

[erelievonen]

Ha, OCTO, you've found it too! (This is obviously connected with yesterday's discussion about repeating an accidental after a grace note.)
The old Peters edition of Grieg's piano works is the only edition where I've seen this convention used, but there it is used very consistently.

The rule here is: accidentals before grace notes are engraved in full size if the accidental is about to affect normal-sized noteheads later on in the same bar. If the accidental is only going to affect grace note(s), it's engraved in small size.

It's unusual to do so, and I don't know why they chose to do so, but at least, it is unambiguous for the reader.

[OCTO]

I find it very beautiful. I have never been thinking about this option before.

[David Ward]

It seems a sensible and practical option (especially useful for older eyes and full scores with rather small staves). It might even be nice if it were an option available in the engraving software settings (perhaps document specific, or maybe even, when appropriate, in full score but not parts &c).

[John Ruggero]

I don't find it attractive, but it is certainly logical: as if the flat were for the entire thee note unit rather than just the first note.

The experiment was not carried out in the next Peters edition:

http://conquest.imslp.info/files/imglnk ... 5_scan.pdf,

perhaps because there is now a hodgepodge if large and small accidentals for the grace notes and because it leads to problematic areas like the following where the engraver now had a difficult decision to make: should the second little note also have a large flat?

Grieg Large Flats.jpg (28.31 KiB) Viewed 12663 times

[OCTO]

Is it illusion, or true, for me it seems that the grace-note flats are a bit bigger than others?

[tisimst]

Must be an illusion, they're definitely the same size.

[Knut]

I agree with John. Some editions seem to 'double down' and place accidentals on both the grace note and principal note, which I don't see any need for under normal circumstances either.

If one is really afraid for the lack of visibility, I think it's better to increase the size of both the grace notes and their accompanying accidentals slightly. Using special font characters for such small size elements should also help with this.