Good questions Timtin with no easy answers, according to Joan Chissell who wrote the BBC music guide to Schumann they are "presumably meant to be seen but not heard" so even she wasn't sure, though in light of this discussion maybe you should play the notes, silently depressing the keys and hope that no sound is made. Honestly unless someone knows from some letters etc. of Schumann exactly what his intentions are then you will get divided opinion.Timtin wrote:And thank you Klavierelch for the musical citation. I must admit that diamond-shaped
notes were something I've never understood (until now)!
Two final questions (which I hope aren't too daft!) :-
1. Schumann's Sphinxes in Carnaval Op9. What's that all about? If they are not to
be played, should the performer simply delay for a few moments before embarking
on the next piece in the set?
2. If instruments such as the cello deliberately slightly sharpen the leading note of
an ascending major scale and flatten it in a descending one to sound 'right', why is
there no apparent dissonance if a well-tempered klavier simultaneously plays the
same notes?
The answer to the 2nd question is more complex because in fact on the piano you do create a dissonance. My own thoughts are that the offending note would react sympathetically to the other notes being played around it and thus tune itself ever so slightly by losing or gaining harmonics and so you do not notice the dissonance. Of course if a cellist is playing with the piano then it is more than likely to adjust microscopically to the tuning of the piano without actually being aware that they were doing so.
Hope this helps
regards
Brian