In
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
, ornaments or embellishments are musical flourishes—typically, added notes—that are not essential to carry the overall line of the
melody
A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
(or
harmony
In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
), but serve instead to decorate or "ornament" that line (or harmony), provide added interest and variety, and give the performer the opportunity to add expressiveness to a song or piece. Many ornaments are performed as "fast notes" around a central, main
note
Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to:
Music and entertainment
* Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music
* ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian
* ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened version ...
.
There are many types of ornaments, ranging from the addition of a single, short
grace note
A grace note is a kind of music notation denoting several kinds of musical ornaments. It is usually printed smaller to indicate that it is melodically and harmonically nonessential. When occurring by itself, a single grace note indicates eith ...
before a main note to the performance of a virtuosic and flamboyant trill. The amount of ornamentation in a piece of music can vary from quite extensive (it was often extensive in the
Baroque period
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
, from 1600 to 1750) to relatively little or even none. The word ''agrément'' is used specifically to indicate the French Baroque style of ornamentation.
Improvised vs. written
In the Baroque period, it was common for performers to
improvise
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
ornamentation on a given melodic line. A singer performing a
da capo aria
The da capo aria () is a musical form for arias that was prevalent in the Baroque era. It is sung by a soloist with the accompaniment of instruments, often a small orchestra. The da capo aria is very common in the musical genres of opera and orato ...
, for instance, would sing the melody relatively unornamented the first time and decorate it with additional flourishes and
trills the second time. Similarly, a
harpsichord player performing a simple melodic line was expected to be able to improvise harmonically and stylistically appropriate trills,
mordent
In music, a mordent is an ornament indicating that the note is to be played with ''a single'' rapid alternation with the note above or below. Like trills, they can be chromatically modified by a small flat, sharp or natural accidental. The t ...
s (upper or lower) and
appoggiatura
An appoggiatura ( , ; german: Vorschlag or ; french: port de voix) is a musical ornament that consists of an added non-chord note in a melody that is resolved to the regular note of the chord. By putting the non-chord tone on a strong beat, ( ...
s.
Ornamentation may also be indicated by the composer. A number of standard ornaments (described below) are indicated with standard symbols in
music notation
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
, while other ornamentations may be appended to the score in small notes, or simply written out normally as fully sized notes. Frequently, a composer will have his or her own vocabulary of ornaments, which will be explained in a preface, much like a code. A
grace note
A grace note is a kind of music notation denoting several kinds of musical ornaments. It is usually printed smaller to indicate that it is melodically and harmonically nonessential. When occurring by itself, a single grace note indicates eith ...
is a note written in smaller type, with or without a slash through it, to indicate that its
note value
In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the texture or shape of the '' notehead'', the presence or absence of a ''stem'', and the presence or absence of ''flags/ beams/hooks/tails''. Unmodified note valu ...
does not count as part of the total time value of the
bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
. Alternatively, the term may refer more generally to any of the small notes used to mark some other ornament (see below), or in association with some other ornament's indication (see below), regardless of the timing used in the execution.
In
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, melodies ornamented upon repetition ("
divisions") were called "
diferencias", and can be traced back to 1538, when
Luis de Narváez
Luis de Narváez ( fl. 1526–1549) was a Spanish composer and vihuelist. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Narváez is known today for '' Los seys libros del Delphín'', a collection of polyphonic music for the vihuela which includes the ear ...
published the first collection of such music for the
vihuela
The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...
.
Types
Trill
A
trill
TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) is an Internet Standard implemented by devices called TRILL switches. TRILL combines techniques from bridging and routing, and is the application of link-state routing to the VLAN-aware cus ...
, also known as a "shake", is a rapid alternation between an indicated note and the one above it. In simple music, trills may be
diatonic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize Scale (music), scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, Interval (music), intervals, Chord (music), chords, Musical note, notes, musical sty ...
, using just the notes of the scale; in other cases, the trill may be
chromatic. The trill is usually indicated by either a or a , with the ~ representing the length of the trill, above the
staff.
At a moderate tempo, the above might be executed as follows:
In Baroque music, the trill is sometimes indicated with a + (plus) sign above or below the note.
In the late 18th century, when performers play a trill, it always starts from the upper note. However, "
Koch">einrich ChristophKoch expressed no preference and observed that it was scarcely a matter of much importance whether the trill began one way or the other, since there was no audible difference after the initial note had been sounded." Clive Brown writes that "Despite three different ways of showing the trills, it seems likely that a trill beginning with the upper note and ending with a turn was envisaged in each case."
Sometimes it is expected that the trill will end with a turn (by sounding the note below rather than the note above the principal note, immediately before the last sounding of the principal note), or some other variation. Such variations are often marked with a few grace notes following the note that bears the trill indication.
There is also a single tone trill variously called ''trillo'' or ''
tremolo
In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are two types of tremolo.
The first is a rapid reiteration:
* Of a single Musical note, note, particularly used on String instrument#Bowing, bowed string instrument ...
'' in late Renaissance and early Baroque. Trilling on a single note is particularly idiomatic for the bowed strings.
Mordent
A
mordent
In music, a mordent is an ornament indicating that the note is to be played with ''a single'' rapid alternation with the note above or below. Like trills, they can be chromatically modified by a small flat, sharp or natural accidental. The t ...
is a rapid alternation between an indicated note, the note above (called the ''upper mordent'', ''inverted mordent'', or ''pralltriller'') or below (called the ''lower mordent'' or ''mordent''), and the indicated note again. The upper mordent is indicated by a short thick
tilde
The tilde () or , is a grapheme with several uses. The name of the character came into English from Spanish, which in turn came from the Latin '' titulus'', meaning "title" or "superscription". Its primary use is as a diacritic (accent) in ...
(which may also indicate a trill); the lower mordent is the same with a short vertical line through it.
As with the trill, the exact speed with which a mordent is performed will vary according to the tempo of the piece, but, at a moderate tempo, the above might be executed as follows:
Confusion over the meaning of the unadorned word ''mordent'' has led to the modern terms ''upper'' and ''lower'' mordent being used, rather than ''mordent'' and ''inverted mordent''. Practice, notation, and nomenclature vary widely for all of these ornaments; that is to say, whether, by including the
symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
for a mordent in a
musical score, a composer intended the direction of the additional note (or notes) to be played above or below the principal note written on the sheet music varies according to when the piece was written, and in which country.
In the
Baroque period
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
, a mordant (the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
or
Scottish equivalent of ''
mordent
In music, a mordent is an ornament indicating that the note is to be played with ''a single'' rapid alternation with the note above or below. Like trills, they can be chromatically modified by a small flat, sharp or natural accidental. The t ...
'') was what later came to be called an ''
inverted mordent'' and what is now often called a ''
lower mordent''. In the 19th century, however, the name ''mordent'' was generally applied to what is now called the ''upper'' mordent. Although mordents are now thought of as a single alternation between notes, in the Baroque period a ''mordant'' may have sometimes been executed with more than one alternation between the indicated note and the note below, making it a sort of inverted trill. Mordents of all sorts might typically, in some periods, begin with an extra ''inessential note'' (the lesser, added note), rather than with the ''principal note'' as shown in the examples here. The same applies to trills, which in the Baroque and
Classical periods would begin with the added, upper note. A ''lower'' inessential note may or may not be chromatically raised (that is, with a natural, a sharp, or even a double sharp) to make it one
semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically.
It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...
lower than the principal note.
Turn
A turn is a short
figure
Figure may refer to:
General
*A shape, drawing, depiction, or geometric configuration
*Figure (wood), wood appearance
*Figure (music), distinguished from musical motif
*Noise figure, in telecommunication
*Dance figure, an elementary dance pattern ...
consisting of the note above the one indicated, the note itself, the note below the one indicated, and the note itself again. It is marked by a backwards S-shape lying on its side, sometimes known as an "inverted lazy S", above the staff. The details of its execution depend partly on the exact placement of the turn mark. For instance, the turns below
may be executed as
The exact speed with which a turn is executed can vary, as can its rhythm. The question of how a turn is best executed is largely one of context, convention, and taste. The lower and upper added notes may or may not be chromatically raised.
An inverted turn (the note below the one indicated, the note itself, the note above it, and the note itself again) is usually indicated by putting a short vertical line through the normal turn sign, though sometimes the sign itself is turned upside down.
Appoggiatura
An
appoggiatura
An appoggiatura ( , ; german: Vorschlag or ; french: port de voix) is a musical ornament that consists of an added non-chord note in a melody that is resolved to the regular note of the chord. By putting the non-chord tone on a strong beat, ( ...
(; ) is an added note that is important melodically (unlike an acciaccatura) and suspends the principal note by a portion of its time-value, often about half, but this may be considerably more or less depending on the context. The added note (the auxiliary note) is one degree higher or lower than the principal note, and may or may not be chromatically altered. Appoggiaturas are also usually on the strong or strongest beat of the resolution, are themselves emphasised, and are approached by a leap and left by a step in the opposite direction of the leap.
An appoggiatura is often written as a
grace note
A grace note is a kind of music notation denoting several kinds of musical ornaments. It is usually printed smaller to indicate that it is melodically and harmonically nonessential. When occurring by itself, a single grace note indicates eith ...
prefixed to a principal note and printed in small character, without the oblique stroke:
This may be executed as follows:
Acciaccatura
The word ''acciaccatura'' (, ; ) comes from the Italian verb ''
acciaccare'', "to crush". In the 18th century, it was an ornament applied to any of the main notes of
arpeggiated
A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves.
An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...
chords, either a tone or semitone below the chord tone, struck simultaneously with it and then immediately released. Hence the German translation ''Zusammenschlag'' (together-stroke).
In the 19th century, the acciaccatura (sometimes called ''short appoggiatura'') came to be a shorter variant of the ''long appoggiatura'', where the delay of the principal note is quick. It is written using a grace note (often a quaver, or
eighth note
180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest.
180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together.
An eighth note (American) or a quaver ( British) is a musical note pla ...
), with an oblique stroke through the stem. In the
Classical period, an acciaccatura is usually performed before the beat and the emphasis is on the main note, not the grace note. The ''appoggiatura'' long or short has the emphasis on the grace note.
The exact interpretation of this will vary according to the tempo of the piece, but the following is possible:
Whether the note should be played before or on the beat is largely a question of taste and performance practice. Exceptionally, the acciaccatura may be notated in the bar preceding the note to which it is attached, showing that it is to be played before the beat. The implication also varies with the composer and the period. For example,
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
's and
Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...
's long appoggiaturas are – to the eye – indistinguishable from
Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...
's and
Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
's before-the-beat acciaccaturas.
Glissando
A
glissando is a slide from one note to another, signified by a wavy line connecting the two notes.
All of the intervening diatonic or chromatic (depending on instrument and context) are heard, albeit very briefly. In this way, the glissando differs from
portamento
In music, portamento (plural: ''portamenti'', from old it, portamento, meaning "carriage" or "carrying") is a pitch sliding from one note to another. The term originated from the Italian expression "''portamento della voce''" ("carriage of the ...
. In
contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...
(especially in avant garde pieces), a glissando tends to assume the whole value of the initial note.
Slide
A
slide
Slide or Slides may refer to:
Places
* Slide, California, former name of Fortuna, California
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums
* ''Slide'' (Lisa Germano album), 1998
* ''Slide'' (George Clanton album), 2018
*''Slide'', by Patrick Glees ...
(or ''Schleifer'' in German) instructs the performer to begin one or two diatonic steps below the marked note and slide upward. The schleifer usually includes a prall trill or mordent trill at the end. Willard A. Palmer writes that "
e schleifer is a 'sliding' ornament, usually used to fill in the gap between a note and the previous one."
''Nachschlag''
The word ''Nachschlag'' () translates, literally, to “after-beat”, and refers to "the two notes that sometimes terminate a trill, and which, when taken in combination with the last two notes of the shake, may form a turn." The term ''Nachschlag'' may also refer to “an ornament that took the form of a supplementary note that, when placed after a main note, “steals” time from it.”
The first definition of ''Nachschlag'' refers to the “shaked” or trilled version of the ornament, while the second definition refers to the “smooth” version. This ornament has also been referred to as a ''cadent'' or a ''springer'' in English Baroque performance practice. Instruction books from the Baroque period, such as
Christopher Simpson
Christopher Simpson (1602/1606–1669) was an English musician and composer, particularly associated with music for the viola da gamba.
Life
Simpson was born between 1602 and 1606, probably at Egton, North Yorkshire. He was the eldest so ...
's ''The Division Violist'', refer to the ''cadent'' as an ornament in which "a Note is sometimes graced by joyning part of its sound to the note following... whose following Quaver is Placed with the ensuing Note, but played with the same Bow."
In Western classical music
Renaissance and early Baroque music
From
Silvestro Ganassi
Silvestro di Ganassi dal Fontego, also given as Sylvestro di Ganassi dal Fontego, Silvestro Ganasi dal Fontego, and Silvestro dal Fontego (1 January 1492 – 1565) was a Venetian musician and author of two important treatises on instrumental te ...
's treatise in 1535 we have instructions and examples of how musicians of the Renaissance and early
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
periods decorated their music with improvised ornaments.
Michael Praetorius
Michael Praetorius (probably 28 September 1571 – 15 February 1621) was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms ba ...
spoke warmly of musicians' "sundry good and merry pranks with little runs/leaps".
Until the last decade of the 16th century the emphasis is on ''divisions'', also known as ''diminutions'', ''passaggi'' (in Italian), ''gorgia'' ("throat", first used as a term for vocal ornamentation by
Nicola Vicentino
Nicola Vicentino (1511 – 1575 or 1576) was an Italian music theorist and composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most progressive musicians of the age, inventing, among other things, a microtonal keyboard.
Life
Little is known of h ...
in 1555), or ''glosas'' (by Ortiz, in both Spanish and Italian) – a way to decorate a simple cadence or interval with extra shorter notes. These start as simple passing notes, progress to step-wise additions and in the most complicated cases are rapid passages of equal valued notes – virtuosic flourishes. There are rules for designing them, to make sure that the original structure of the music is left intact. Towards the end of this period the divisions detailed in the treatises contain more dotted and other uneven rhythms and leaps of more than one step at a time.
Starting with (1589), the treatises bring in a new set of expressive devices called ''graces'' alongside the divisions. These have a lot more rhythmic interest and are filled with affect as composers took much more interest in text portrayal. It starts with the ''trillo'' and ''cascate'', and by the time we reach
Francesco Rognoni
Francesco Rognoni fTaeggio (born in Milan second half of the 16th century – died after 1626) was an Italian composer. He was the son of Riccardo Rognoni and brother of Giovanni Domenico Rognoni Taeggio, both prominent Italian composers and mu ...
(1620) we are also told about fashionable ornaments: , , , , and .
Key treatises detailing ornamentation:
*
Silvestro Ganassi dal Fontego
Silvestro di Ganassi dal Fontego, also given as Sylvestro di Ganassi dal Fontego, Silvestro Ganasi dal Fontego, and Silvestro dal Fontego (1 January 1492 – 1565) was a Venetian musician and author of two important treatises on instrumental t ...
''Opera intitulata Fontegara ...'', Venice 1535
*
Adrianus Petit Coclico ''Compendium musices'' Nuremberg, 1552
*
Diego Ortiz
Diego Ortiz (c. 1510 – c. 1576) was a Spanish composer and music theorist in service to the viceroy of Naples ruled by the Spanish monarchs Charles V and Philip II. Ortiz published the first manual on ornamentation for bowed string ins ...
''Tratado de glosas sobre clausulas ...'', Rome, 1553
*
Juan Bermudo Juan Bermudo (1510 in Écija, Province of Seville – 1565) was a Spanish Friar Minor who is best known as a composer, music theorist and mathematician.
Life
Bermudo entered the Franciscan Order in 1525, belonging to the Province of Andalusia. ...
''El libro llamado declaracion de instrumentos musicales'', Ossuna, 1555
*
Hermann Finck ''Pratica musica'', Wittenberg, 1556
*
Tomás de Santa María ''Libro llamado arte de tañer fantasia'', 1565
*
Girolamo Dalla Casa
__NOTOC__
Girolamo Dalla Casa (also known as Hieronymo de Udene, died 1601) was an Italian composer, instrumentalist, and writer of the late Renaissance. He was a member of the Venetian School, and was perhaps more famous and influential as a p ...
''Il vero modo diminuir...'', Venice, 1584
*
Giovanni Bassano
Giovanni Bassano (c. 1561 – 3 September 1617) was an Italian composer associated with the Venetian School of composers and a cornettist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was a key figure in the development of the instrumental en ...
''Ricercate, passaggi et cadentie ...'', Venice 1585
* Giovanni Bassano ''Motetti, madrigali et canzoni francesi ... diminuiti'', Venice 1591
*
Riccardo Rognoni
Riccardo Rognoni or Richardo Rogniono (ca. 1550 – before 20 April 1620) is the earliest known member of the Rognoni family which started one of the earliest of all violin schools, based in Milan. His treatise ''Passaggi per potersi esercita ...
''Passaggi per potersi essercitare nel diminuire'', Venice 1592
*
Lodovico Zacconi
Lodovico (or Ludovico) Zacconi (11 June 1555 – 23 March 1627) was an Italian composer and musical theorist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He worked as a singer, theologian, and writer on music in northern Italy and Austria; f ...
''Prattica di musica'', Venice, 1592
*
Giovanni Luca Conforti
Giovanni Luca Conforti (1560 – May 11, 1608) was an Italian composer and prominent falsetto singerNutter, David. "Conforti, Giovanni Luca." ''Grove Music Online''. ed. L. Macy. (accessed 24 November 2008). who wrote an exercise book about Baroqu ...
''Breve et facile maniera ... a far passaggi'', Rome 1593
*
Girolamo Diruta
Girolamo Diruta (c. 1546 – 1624 or 1625) was an Italian organist, music theorist, and composer. He was famous as a teacher, for his treatise ''Il Transilvano'' (Venice, 1st part 1593; 2nd part 1609-10) on counterpoint, and for his part in t ...
''Il transylvano'', 1593
*
Giovanni Battista Bovicelli Giovanni may refer to:
* Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname
* Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data
* '' Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend ...
''Regole, passaggi di musica, madrigali e motetti passaggiati'', Venice 1594
*
Aurelio Virgiliano Aurelio may refer to:
People Politicians
* Aurelio D. Gonzales Jr. (born 1964), congressman in the Philippines
*Aurélio de Lira Tavares (1905–1998), President of Brazil
*Aurelio Martínez, Honduran politician
*Aurelio Mosquera (1883–1939), Pr ...
''Il Dolcimelo'', MS, c.1600
*
Giulio Caccini
Giulio Romolo Caccini (also Giulio Romano) (8 October 1551 – buried 10 December 1618) was an Italian composer, teacher, singer, instrumentalist and writer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the founders of the genre o ...
''
Le nuove musiche'', 1602
*
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (also: ''Johann(es) Hieronymus Kapsberger'' or ''Giovanni Geronimo Kapsperger''; c. 1580 – 17 January 1651) was an Austrian-Italian virtuoso performer and composer of the early Baroque period. A prolific and highly o ...
, ''Libro primo di mottetti passeggiati à una voce'', Rome, 1612
*
Francesco Rognoni
Francesco Rognoni fTaeggio (born in Milan second half of the 16th century – died after 1626) was an Italian composer. He was the son of Riccardo Rognoni and brother of Giovanni Domenico Rognoni Taeggio, both prominent Italian composers and mu ...
''Selva de varii passaggi...'', 1620
* Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger, ''Libro secondo d'arie à una e piu voci'', Rome, 1623
*
Giovanni Battista Spadi da Faenza Giovanni may refer to:
* Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname
* Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data
* '' Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend ...
''Libro de passaggi ascendenti e descendenti'', Venice, 1624
*
Johann Andreas Herbst ''Musica practica'', 1642
Baroque music
Ornaments in
Baroque music
Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transiti ...
take on a different meaning. Most ornaments occur on the beat, and use diatonic intervals more exclusively than ornaments in later periods do. While any table of ornaments must give a strict presentation, consideration has to be given to the tempo and note length, since at rapid tempos it would be difficult or impossible to play all of the notes that are usually required. One realisation of some common Baroque ornaments is set in the following table from the ''
Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach'' by
J.S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...
:
Another realisation can be seen in the table in Pièces de clavecin (1689) by ''
Jean-Henri d'Anglebert
Jean-Henri d'Anglebert ( baptized 1 April 1629 – 23 April 1691) was a French composer, harpsichordist and organist. He was one of the foremost keyboard composers of his day.
Life
D'Anglebert's father Claude Henry known as AnglebertJean const ...
'':
Classical period
In the late 18th and early 19th century, there were no standard ways of performing ornaments and sometimes several distinct ornaments might be performed in a same way.
In the 19th century, performers were adding or improvising ornaments on compositions. As
C.P.E Bach observed, "pieces in which all ornaments are indicated need give no trouble; on the other hand, pieces in which little or nothing is marked must be supplied with ornaments in the usual way." Clive Brown explains that "For many connoisseurs of that period the individuality of a performer's embellishment of the divine notation was a vital part of the musical experience."
In
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
's work, however, there should not be any additional ornament added from a performer. Even in
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
's compositions, there is no ornament that come from outside of the score are allowed, as Brown explains: "Most of the
chamber music from Mozart onwards that still remains in the repertoire belongs to the kind in which every note is thought out' and which tolerates virtually no ornamental additions of the type under consideration here..." Recent scholarship has however brought this statement in question.
In other music
Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
music incorporates a wide variety of ornaments including many of the classical ones mentioned above as well as a number of their own. Most of these ornaments are added either by performers during their solo
extemporizations or as written ornaments. While these ornaments have universal names, their realizations and effects vary depending on the instrument. Jazz music incorporates most of the standard "classical" ornaments, such as trills, grace notes, mordents, glissandi and turns but adds a variety of additional ornaments such as "dead" or
ghost note
In music, a ghost note is a musical note with a rhythmic value, but no discernible pitch when played. In musical notation, this is represented by an "X" for a note head instead of an oval, or parentheses around the note head. It should not be ...
s (a percussive sound, notated by an "X"), "doit" notes and "fall" notes (annotated by curved lines above the note, indicating by direction of curve that the note should either rapidly rise or fall on the scale),
squeezes (notated by a curved line from an "X" to a specific pitch, that denotes an un-pitched glissando), and shakes (notated by a squiggly line over a note, which indicates a fast lip trill for brass players and a minor third trill for winds).
Indian classical music
In
Carnatic music
Carnatic music, known as or in the Dravidian languages, South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an ...
, the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
term ''gamaka'' (which means "to move") is used to denote ornamentation. One of the most unusual forms of ornamentation in world music is the Carnatic ''kampitam'' which is about oscillating a note in diverse ways by varying amplitude, speed or number of times the note is oscillated. This is a highly subtle, yet scientific ornamentation as the same note can be oscillated in different ways based on the raga or context within a raga. For instance, the fourth note (Ma) in Shankarabharanam or Begada allows at least three to five types of oscillation based on the phrasings within the raga.
Another important gamaka in Carnatic is the "Sphuritam" which is about rendering a note twice but forcefully from a grace note immediately below it the second time. For instance, the third note (Ga) would be rendered plain first time and with a force from the second (Ri) the next time.
Celtic music
Ornamentation is a major distinguishing characteristic of
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
,
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
,
Scottish, and
Cape Breton
Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The island accounts for 18. ...
music. A singer, fiddler, flautist, harpist,
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
r,
piper
Piper may refer to:
People
* Piper (given name)
* Piper (surname)
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Comics
* Piper (Morlock), in the Marvel Universe
* Piper (Mutate), in the Marvel Universe
Television
* Piper Chapman, lea ...
or a player of another instrument may add grace notes (known as 'cuts' / 'strikes' in Irish fiddling), slides, rolls, cranns, doubling, mordents, drones, trebles (or birls in Scottish fiddling), or a variety of other ornaments to a given melody.
See also
*
Dreydlekh
Dreydlekh (plural of ''dreidel'') or "spins" are musical ornaments of klezmer music, particularly violin, used to produce its characteristic "tear in the voice" sound., by Yale Strom, "The absolutely complete klezmer songbook", 2006, Introduct ...
, ornaments in
klezmer music
*
Ribattuta Ribattuta or Ribattuta di gola is a musical ornament found in Italian and German works of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Execution
The ornament is a trill on a long-short dotted rhythm accelerating to end on either a tremolo
In music, ''tremo ...
References
Sources
*
Further reading
*
Donington, Robert. ''A Performer's Guide to Baroque Music''. London: Faber & Faber, 1975.
* Neumann, Frederick. ''Ornamentation in Baroque and Post-Baroque Music, with Special Emphasis on J. S. Bach''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978. (cloth); (pbk).
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ornament (Music)
Musical terminology