Greater Fredericksburg Chapter of the ARS
November 1, 2020 Chapter Meeting
Chapter Representative: Dr. Kelly Kazik
Technical officer: Jarrett Rodriguez
Conductor: James Kazik
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Essential Ornaments: Breaking down the Wiggles
What is Ornamentation?
The Harvard Music Dictionary defines ornamentation as: “the modification of music, usually but not always through the additions of notes, to make it more beautiful or effective, or to demonstrate the abilities of the interpreter.”
There are 3 types of ornamentation talked about by Hotteterre, Quantz and others:
1. Essential Graces
These include trills, mordents, turns, and rhythmic alterations.
2. Diminutions
This class involves taking a couple of notes and breaking them down into smaller note values and elaborating.
3. The elaborations of pauses such as cadenzas
This class is more improvisatory in nature.
This topic is an enormous topic that has variations that are related to time period and region. For the purpose of this discuss, we are going to focus our efforts on two primary sources, the essential graces, and look at FLUTE (that includes recorder) music from the first half of the 18th century.
Primary Sources are:
Hotteterre, J. M. (1968). Principles of the Flute, Recorder and Oboe. Mineola, NY: Dover Pubns.
Quantz, J. J., & Reilly, E. R. (1966). On playing the flute. London, London: Faber and Faber.
The Essential Graces
The Essential Graces are the ornamentation that are usually indicated with some sort of symbol. They are not wildly improvisatory. They can act melodically or they can act harmonically. As most of us are modern instrument transplants to the recorder, we can use our experience with modern music to de-mystify the topic of essential graces. In modern music, most woodwind players see “trills” and “grace notes” at some point. Some woodwind players may encounter “turns.” All of these graces have their origin in earlier time periods. The major difference between using graces in modern music versus baroque music, is that A) there are more of them in use, and B) the performer also gets add additional graces and decides where to play them.
Types of Graces
Trills (a.k.a. Shakes, Tremblements):
Both Hotteterre and Quantz speak of trills. There are two basic types of trills. The first type is a short trill that adds sparkle to a melody. The second type is the longer trill that happens at a cadence. The cadential trill, in the 18th century, is often combined with two more ornaments: the appogiatura and the resolution. The trill itself is a rapid wiggling of the finger from the printed note up to the next note in the key of the passage. (Know thy scales!) A large portion of Hotterre’s treatise is dedicated to fingering charts telling the reader which finger to wiggle to make a trill.
Hotteterre indicates the trill by a (+) sign. Other examples of the trill are:
The actual shake/trill is performed:
Appogiaturas:
There are several kinds of appogiaturas and they have different names and slightly different functions.
Accented Appogiatura- This grace is indicated by a small note slurred to a principal note. The small note is played ON THE BEAT and takes half the value of the principal note. (If a note is divisible into three parts, the appogiatura takes 2 parts and principal note 1 part.) This type of appogiatura often precedes a trill. An appogiatura that comes from BELOW the principal notes is called a Port de Voix. It is some of the most important ornaments in French baroque music.
Passing Appogiatura or Coulement- This grace is written by Quantz as a small note slurred to a principal note, however, rather than be played on the beat, it is played just before the beat. Hotteterre refers to this ornament as a Coule and indicates it with what looks like a modern marcato mark. This type of appogiatura is used within a melody to fill in the interval of a third.
Demie Cadence apuiee (i.e. the super-dooper on the beat Appogiatura)- Hotteterre combines the Coulement symbol and the trill symbol to indicate a trill preceded by a very long appogiatura ON the beat. This combination symbol is called the Demie Cadence apuiee. I see this very rarely outside of Hotteterre’s own music. I have not found Quantz, Telemann, Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, etc. to use this symbol.
Ornaments for ending Trills:
There are several ornaments that are used to resolve the shake/trill.
Port de voix double (nachslag)- this ornament is a double grace note filling in the distance of an ascending third beginning on the first note of the third. Depending on the style you are playing the ornament could be on the beat or before the beat. This ornament can be used within a melody or to end a trill.
Double Cadence- this ornament combines the trill/shake with the port de voix double/nachslag to end a trill. I've found this ornament expressed in three different ways in music.
Double Candence coupee- this ornament combines the trill/shake with the port de voix double/nachslag, however the final note (resolution) is absent.
Anticipation: This ornament is the ta-da after the shake of the trill and precedes the final note of a cadence. It is often not written out.
Simple Melodic Embellishments
These ornaments don’t necessarily have anything to do with a trill or cadence and can quickly spice up a dull or plain melody.
Battement (mordents): The battement or mordent is a quick embellishment on a single note. It is produced by the player wiggling his finger down (usually a half step) from the principle note and back up again only ONCE. Depending on the style/composer this ornament will most likely happen on the beat.
The trill vrs. mordent symbol Performing the trill vrs. mordent
Accent: This ornament is (almost) the opposite of the battement. It embellishes between two of the same note.
Tour de gosier (Turns): a turn is an ornament that embellishes the space between notes that form a melodic 2nd. This ornament was used heavily in 19th century flute music. Hotteterre references this ornament with the same symbol that you may have learned in school band.
Tour de chant: This ornament is the 2nd half of a turn that prepares the melody for the appogiatura preceding the trill.
An ornament that you many have never considered to be ornament.
Flattement: This is a finger vibrato. Hotteterre also spend an enormous amount of time in his treatise informing the player which finger to wiggle to produce a flattement. In the preface to his Suites op. 5, Hotteterre mentions that, “note that flattements should be made on almost all long notes and that they, as well as tremblements and battements, should be played slower or faster according to the piece’s tempo and character.” In Hotteterre’s music sometimes the “trill wiggle sign” can mean a flattement instead if place above a long(ish) note.
When, Where and Why to use the Simple Graces
Now that we know what the basic essential graces are and how to make them happen on our instruments, we need to explore when, where, and why to use them.
1. The use of the essential graces varies by region and composer.
2. In general we add more ornaments/essential grace in slow movements, specifically in the repeats.
3. The most important rule to remember about ornamentation as it pertains to the essential graces is: always use them in “good taste.” What is “good taste”? That is up to you!
Hotteterre, Boismortier, Couperin, Corrette, etc.: In general the French composers of the first quarter of the 18th century loaded up their music with so many essential grace ornaments that you, the performer, barely have to add any more. Get out your decoding sheet and do what they tell you to do! It is interesting to note that by 1735, when Corrette wrote his treatise on flute playing, Corrette indicated that many of Hotteterre’s essential graces were old-fashioned. The further you move into the 18th century, the fewer symbols you need to deal with.
J.M. Hotteterre, Suite in G minor, op. 5 no. 1.
Bach: As a modern flutist, I was told NEVER to ornament Bach. The reason being that Bach pretty music wrote out all the ornaments that he wanted in the flute music. To add my own ornaments would just be adding ornaments on top of ornaments. As a traverso player, I was told that I could add a few simple and tasteful ornaments on repeats in slow movements: nachslags, a quick trill, nothing too over the top.
J.S. Bach, Sonate, BWV 1035, mvt. 1, Adagio ma non tanto, transposed for Alto Recorder
Telemann: Telemann leaves quite a bit for the performer to do. In fact in his methodical sonatas, he shows the student how he adds ornaments to his melodies.
G.P. Telemann, Methodical Sonata in G minor, op. 13, movement 1, Adagio (traverso/voice flute)
Handel: Handel leaves a good number of opportunities for the performer to include essential graces or more complicated diminutions (Italian style ornaments).
G.F. Handel, Sonata in F Major, op. 1 no. 11, movement 1. Larghetto (F recorder)
Quantz: While Quantz gave very complex examples of the essential graces in his treatise, reports about his playing indicate that he used a great deal of restraint in ornamentation during performance. It’s all about “good taste” for his music.
J.J. Quantz, Of the Manner of Playing the Adagio, Table XVII from, “On Playing the Flute,” pg. 169.
Italian Composers: We’ll talk more about Italian Composers in part two, Diminutions, in January.
Happy ornamenting with the essential graces!