Category 1. Duration and Alignment
All notes of a written cadenza usually assume a common but arbitrary time value, although they may be performed at varied durations that are not the same from one performance to another. It is not intended that either the written or the performed durations should conform to the apparent constraints of meter or tempo.
In Ex. #3, the 29 "thirty-second" notes, if played in strict time, would take the same amount of time as a quarter note (normally equated with eight 32nd notes). In cadenzas the arithmetic of durational values is suspended, and the performer is free to decide on the pace and articulation. Note also the duple and triple subdivisions of earlier beats.
A more complex texture is found in the Szymanowski song shown in Ex. #4. Here the cadenza is for piano and the division of labor between hands is expressed by up-stems and down-stems. Note also the tuplet denominations of 6 and 7.
Ex. #3. Musical work not identified. See Bar 4. This illustration was produced by Walter Prati and Giorgio Ceroni using software developed by PARD S.R.L. This example appeared in the Directory of Computer Assisted Research in Musicology 4 (1988), 81.
Ex. #4. From Karol Szymanowski: "Songs of the Infatuated Muezzin," No. 4 (1918). This illustration was produced by John C. Hawkins using the Erato Music Manuscriptor, a dedicated hardware setup and proprietary software. It appeared in Computing in Musicology 9 (1994), 207.
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