A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Sextolet

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A Dictionary of Music and Musicians
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3713595A Dictionary of Music and Musicians — SextoletGeorge GroveFranklin Taylor

SEXTOLET (Fr. Sextolet; Ger. Sextole; Ital. Sestina). A group of six notes of equal length, played in the time of four ordinary notes of the same species. To distinguish them from regular notes of like form the number 6 is placed above or below the group. The true sextolet is formed from a triplet, by dividing each note into two, thus giving six notes, the first of which alone is accented; but there is also a similar group of six notes, far more frequently used than the real sextolet, in which a slight accent is given to the fourth note as well as the first. This group, which really consists of two triplets, is properly known as the Double Triplet, and should be marked with the figure 3 over the second and fifth notes, though it is frequently marked with 6, and called a sextolet. The difference is well shown in the following two extracts from the Largo of Beethoven's Concerto in C, op. 15. [See also Triplet.]

Double Triplets.

${ \key f \minor \time 4/4 \relative e''' { \tupletUp \override TupletBracket.bracket-visibility = ##f ees4^"1." ~ \tuplet 3/2 8 { ees16[( d ees fes ees ces]) des[( c des ees des bes]) ces[( bes ces des ces aes]) } | bes16 } }$

Sextolets.

${ \key f \minor \time 4/4 \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative e'' { \tupletUp \override TupletBracket.tuplet-slur = ##t \override TupletBracket.bracket-visibility = ##t \tuplet 6/4 4 { <ees c>16 <e cis> <f d> <ges ees> <g e> <aes f> <a fis> <bes g> <ces aes> <c a> <des bes> <d b> } \tuplet 3/2 4 { <ees c>8-. <d bes>-. <ees c>-. <d bes!>-. <c aes>-. <bes g>-. } | aes4 } }$

[ F. T. ]