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Schumann triplets

Author: ebonite
Date: 2009-11-11 20:52

I have a dilemma about the triplets in the piano part of the Schumann
Fantasiestuecke.

For quite a lot of the piece, the right hand in the piano part is written in two voices, (usually with note tails pointing up for the upper voice, and pointing down for the lower voice, like soprano and alto in a vocal score). In many cases, the upper voice is written with two equal quavers, while the lower voice has triplet quavers in the same beat. This is all fine, but sometimes the two voices share one of the notes; most often, the third quaver of the (lower voice) triplet is the same note as the second quaver of the (upper voice) duplet. There are many examples of this---the first one is on the last beat of bar 3 in the piano right hand. Strictly speaking, this is rhythmically impossible, because the last quaver of the triplet should have a duration of a third of a beat, while the second quaver of the duplet should be half a beat.

There are at least two possible solutions:

1. "swing" the duplets, so that the triplet movement is maintained throughout in the lower voice, and the duplets in the upper voice actually correspond to a 2+1 pattern. In other words, the piano part sounds as if it's written in 12/8, with patterns of a crotchet followed by quaver in the upper voice.

2. Play the duplets as written, and also play the first two quavers of the triplet as written, but play the third quaver of the triplet early, so that it coincides with the second quaver of the duplet. In this case, the triplet will sound uneven, with the first two quavers being shorter than the third one.

I think I can remember hearing examples of both 1 and 2 in performance, and both have their advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of 1 is that it maintains the triplet movement, which is obviously meant to be an important feature of the piece; maybe even the most important feature. The advantage of 2 is that the upper voice in the piano often either anticipates or imitates a motive in the clarinet part, which (when it appears for the clarinet) is clearly meant to be in equal duplets. For example, bars 2 and 3 of the piano part in movement 1 anticipate one of the main motives of movement 2. So you would think that the motive should be played in duplets in the piano, to match the clarinet. I think I prefer it this way, but the
disadvantage is that the flow of the triplets is uneven.

I'm sure that many of the people on this board have performed this work. If so, you must have grappled with the problem of the piano triplets (or at least your pianist must have grappled with the problem privately). What solution did your accompanist come up with, and why?

Ebonite

Glossary:
quaver = 1/8 note
crotchet = 1/4 note

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