A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Triplet

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A Dictionary of Music and Musicians
edited by George Grove
Triplet
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​TRIPLET (Fr. Triolet; Ital. Terzina; Ger. Triole). In modern notation each note is equal to two of the next lower denomination, and the division of a note into three is not provided for, although in the ancient 'measured music' it was the rule. [See Dot, vol. i. p. 455.] On this account notes worth one third of the next longer kind have to be written as halves, and are then grouped in threes by means of curved lines, with the figure 3 usually placed over the middle note as an additional distinction. Such a group is called a Triplet, and is executed at a slightly increased speed, so that the three triplet-notes are equal to two ordinary notes of the same species: for example—

Beethoven. Sonata, op. 2. no. 1.

{ << \new Staff \relative e'' { \key aes \major \time 4/4 ees4 \tuplet 3/2 4 { aes8 ees c aes' des, c g' des bes | g' c, bes f' c aes f' d g, e' c g_"etc." } } \new Staff \relative g { \clef bass \key aes \major \tuplet 3/2 { g8 c ees } aes,^\( aes' f, f' g, g' | e, e' f, f' b,, b' c, c'\) } >> }


Triplets may be formed of notes of any kind, and also of rests, or of notes and rests together.

Beethoven. Sonata, op. 22.

{ \relative f'' { \key bes \major \time 2/4 \partial 4 r16 <f f,>^( <g g,> <f f,>) | \tuplet 3/2 8 { r16 <ees ees,>_. <d d,>_. r <c c,>_. <bes bes,>_. r <gis gis,>_. <a a,>_. r <a a,>_. <bes bes,>_. } | <b b,>16( <c c,>8.) s16_"etc." } }


So also a group of two notes, one twice the length of the other, is read as the equivalent of a triplet, provided it is marked with the distinctive figure 3.

Schumann. Trio, op. 63.

{ \new Staff << \key f \major \time 4/4 \new Voice \relative d'' { \stemUp \override TupletBracket.bracket-visibility = ##f \tuplet 3/2 { d8\rest r g, } bes4 ^~ \tuplet 3/2 4 { bes4^( a8 dis,4 e8) } | s_"etc." } \new Voice \relative g { \stemDown \override TupletNumber #'stencil = ##f \override TupletBracket.bracket-visibility = ##f \tuplet 3/2 4 { b8\rest <g c e> q r <bes e> q r c r r <bes e,> r } } >> }


In instrumental music, when the fingering is marked, there is some risk of the figure 3 of a triplet being confounded with the indication for the third finger. To obviate this, the two figures are always printed in different type, or, better still, the triplet figure is enclosed in brackets, thus (3). This plan, which has recently been rather extensively adopted, appears to have been first introduced by Moscheles, in his edition of Beethoven, published by Cramer & Co.

Groups of a similar nature to triplets, but consisting of an arbitrary number of notes, are also frequently met with in instrumental music. These groups, which are sometimes called quintolets, sextolets, etc., according to the number of notes they contain, always have their number written above them, as an indication that they are played at a different (usually a quicker) rate from ordinary notes of the same form. Their proper speed is found by referring them to ordinary groups of the same kind of notes; thus, ​if the general rhythm of the bar indicates four semiquavers to a beat, as in common time, a group of 5, 6, or 7 semiquavers would be made equal to 4 semiquavers, while a group of 8 notes of the value of one beat would of course be written as demisemiquavers; if however the natural grouping of the bar were in threes, as in 9-16 time, a group of 4 or 5 (or sometimes 2) semiquavers would be equal to 3, while a group of 6 would require to be written as demisemiquavers.
[ F. T. ]
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