This is a wonderful piece, and I've finally just about reached the bottom of my page 3 and I have a note confusion in Bar 40:

The RH starts with an E sharp then is followed by an E and D chord, which in my edition has a natural sign against the D, but there is no reason for a natural there, and if it's a courtesy one (am I the only one that get's annoyed by courtesy accidentals) I can't see where from. So I was worried that it may be a misprint and the natural sign had slipped ane the E should then be naturalled, which gives it a minor tonality, but my gut is telling me that the E should still be sharp.

Does anyone know?

I know it's quite an obscure piece so I'm not expecting a huge number of responses but any help gratefully accepted.

D

Sorry - I only the have the score for the first three pieces. I tried to learn El Puerto many years ago. It was too difficult at the time, so I put it aside for the future. Maybe it is time to dig it out and try again.

I have a recording of the whole of Iberia, so I'll listen to it tonight and try to figure out if he plays E or E# after the D chord ... unless someone answers the question in the meantime

thank you

It comes quite early on, right after a fairly quiet section where the RH has large rising falling chords and the Bass is singing: Taa, tafi tefi ta te TA-te / Taa etc 8 times.

I really should get a decent recording of it.

As promised I did listen, over and over, and I am still not 100% sure. I think that he plays E#, which means that the natural you refer to is redundant. Perhaps Albeniz thought you might assume D# so he confirms D natural ??.

I can't be completely sure about that E/E# because it is played almost inaudibly softly, the inner melody (below it starting on the D) is played very strongly, and there is a strongly played higher part as well! No doubt someone with a better developed ear would be able to hear it accurately. I think I may be losing it in my dotage.

However, best guess is E#.

It is a wonderful piece. It is as difficult to play as it sounds?

Thank you so much, I really do appreciate it.

My instinct tells me its a sharp, the bar does repeat when there is less doubt, and although still unnecessary the natural still has a courtesy but is less ambiguous because I can work out where it's from, and judging by the general style throughout the piece he is unlikely to change the tonality.

I think as to the difficulty I definitely have the summit ahead of me at the moment This is about as far as I've got with any degree of confidence and although there have been challenges, nothing insurmountable yet. I'm hoping to have it somewhere close for a preliminary performance by next May. I'm no where near your level (yet) it's on the LTCL syllabus.

No
My pupils often find it off-putting also - because I have taught them that accidentals last for one bar, so the "courtesy" accidental actually confuses them.

I like them.... Usually means one less question to ask myself while playing I've seen them splattered around for what seems like no real reason in some pieces I've looked at lately, but in the correct context, I find them useful.

That's kind of the point though - there is no "correct context" for courtesy accidentals.

One example I can think of was a bar in a piece where a note had been sharpened and naturaled a few times. The next bar (last on line) had a courtesy sharp to serve as a reminder before you got to the next line and saw the key signature again. I suppose that makes some sort of sense.

Absolutely. Pupils often find them very confusing as they don't understand why they're there. And who made the decision to stop putting them in brackets? At least that way you knew their function. (Just realised I've managed to use all three kinds of 'there' in this paragraph!)

Incidentally, I always thought they were called 'cautionary' accidentals.

I agree that that may be helpful, but, to be pedantic, it is still not "correct".

I have no idea what they are called - I was just using Digby's terminology.

I call them 'confirmatory' accidentals. I have a book of flute pieces which doesn't use them, and I find myself checking all the time in consequence. I think they are used by so many music publishers I tend to rely on them now.

I normally get very irritated with courtesy accidentals - although they can be helpful making it clear when say, an F was sharpened then another an octave below it was meant to be played natural, in the same bar.

I've always called them courtesy accidentals because my old piano teacher used to - do they have a proper name?

Wiki seems to suggest you can use either 'courtesy' or 'cautionary'.

Sometimes when you've had a double sharp or flat, you get a natural and a sharp/flat in front of the same note - eg (double sharp)C ... (natural sign)(sharp sign)C. Ridiculously confusing, especially if you're sight reading

That's quite an old convention of cancelling the accidental before putting in the new one, it's less common these days, but still should only be in the same bar.

I've seen that too, in some Fauré duets - very confusing!