Ornamentation According to Quantz and Tromlitz:

The key to understanding Baroque performance practice is knowing how to properly ornament. Quantz and Tromlitz both had opinions on ornamentation that were as follows:

Quantz's Views

1) Appoggiaturas:

The appoggiatura is a Baroque embellishment where a note is suspended from a preceding one. Many contemporary editions of Baroque music have these ornaments written in, but they were traditionally added by the performer. According to Quantz, the direction from which the appoggiatura occurs depends on the direction of the notes preceding it. If the notes preceding are descending, the appoggiatura will also descend. The opposite is true when the notes preceding come from below. There are two different types of appoggiaturas: passing and accented. An appoggiatura is passing when it is accompanying a pattern of thirds. These notes are placed before the beat and are also tongued lightly and slurred together. An accented appoggiatura occurs on a downbeat and takes half the length of the note it is ornamenting.

 

2) Turns

There are various short ornaments stemming from the passing appoggiatura that are common in the French style of flute playing: The half-shake, mordent, and turn. The half-shake is a trill stemming from an appoggiatura taken from above (this is why when we play Baroque music today, we are taught that performance practice for the time was to start the trill on the upper note). The mordent is a trill stemming from an appoggiatura taken from below, and a turn embellishes the appoggiatura by touching the notes above and below it before landing on the note being ornamented. There are also battemens which are used to ornament the notes in leaps too large for the use of passing appoggiaturas.

In Quantz’s opinion, these elaborations on the appoggiatura serve to promote "cheer and gaiety" while the simple appoggiatura arouses "tenderness and melancholy."

3) Trills/Tremolos:

Trills almost always begin with an appoggiatura that proceeds the note from above and its length and speed is dependent on its purpose. The player has to make those decisions within the context of the piece. Regardless of the decision, the trill should be played evenly. At the end of each trill, there should be two little notes added called the termination. Quantz also mentions that tremolos (trills between notes of a third apart) are not to be done on the flute, and this is partly due to the cross fingerings required on the one-keyed flute, which made those intervals impossible.

Tromlitz's views:

1) Flattement

An undulating, fluctuating motion which is made on a long, held note, and can be slow or fast, uniform or waxing and waning. This is done by partially opening and closing the next hole down, and it is used on long notes, fermatas, and on the note before a cadenza. Tromlitz states in The Virtuoso Flute Player, "It is not done with the breath on the flute: this does not have a good effect, but makes a wailing sound; and anyone who does it spoils his chest and ruins his playing altogether, for he loses its firmness, and then cannot keep a firm and pure tone; everything wobbles out from the chest."

2) Appoggiatura

A suspension of a note by a preceding note. They are done in long or short styles, and these rules apply for simple meter.

In the long style, if placed in front of a note, it is worth half of it. If there is a dot after the note, it is worth as much as the written note, and the dot is played alone. The same happens if instead of a dot there is a rest after the note.

The emphasis is placed more on the appoggiatura than the note, and when possible, there should be time to grow into the strength of the appoggiatura and slur weakly into the main note (This is called an Abzung). It should fall on the beat whether it is long or short. The short appoggiatura comes on the beat at the same time as the note in front of which it is placed.

3) Passing appoggiatura

Take their value from the previous note, but are slurred to the next. These are only supposed to be placed between descending runs in thirds. There is also another kind which consists of two little notes, which also take their value from the previous note; the first of these is a step lower or higher than the previous note, and the second touches on the pitch of this note again. There is also the slide, which consists of two little notes which are slurred from the distance of a third either above or below to the following note

4) Double appoggiatura

An ornament of two little appoggiaturas of different value before the main note, one below it and one above. It can involve various notes of the scale, but if there is a note before it, it usually takes the same pitch for its first note. The second note is always a step above the subsequent main note.

5) Gruppetto

An ornament that consists of three, and sometimes four notes, and is either played freely; or in time if there is a note at the same pitch preceding; or attached to a long rising appoggiatura; or it is between two notes of equal value, or also if the first is dotted. It is made from above and from below.

           

7) Short trill and schneller

An ornament consisting of two notes, sometimes of four; connected either to a descending appoggiatura, or to a preceding good note. The short trill consisting of two notes comes on the good note in stepwise descending sequences. It can also be used freely on good and bad notes alike; and this kind is called a "Schneller", which is notated with a sign resembling the umlaut. With four notes, it is comparable to a turn today. With two, it is just a short trill starting on the note and then going to the note stepwise above it. When it refers to the Schneller it is indicated with small notes. Used in spirited/lively movements

8) Mordent

An ornament that consists of two little notes, like the short trill, but functions backwards by beginning on the main note, going to the one below, and returning to the main note. These can be short or long (single or double). The short one occurs simultaneously with the note and the long one consists of four notes and takes its value from the note which stands.

9) Battement  

What Quantz would have called a short mordent (see Quantz no.2)

It is important to think about how to perform Baroque music on a contemporary instrument. I read an article on the Flutist Quarterly that was authored by Kathy Borst Jones and interviews Nancy Hadden that compares the realization of Baroque ornamentation on both instruments. One thing she mentioned was that the appoggiatura sounds completely different on the Baroque instrument. She says, “Playing appoggiaturas and ends of phrases make so much sense on baroque flute; on the modern flute you can play right through those and not even notice!”

Don’t be afraid to experiment with Baroque ornamentation! I hope you learned from today’s post that while there are rules, much of ornamentation is about comprehending the context of the piece and adding tasteful embellishment. Try exploring different interpretations and see how that affects the piece!

I’ll leave you with the words of Quantz to ponder when contemplating the use of Baroque ornaments: "Since music should now rouse the passions, now still them again, the utility and necessity of these graces in a plain and unadorned melody is self-evident."

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Further Reading:

Quantz, Johann Joachim, and Edward R. Reilly. On Playing the Flute. Fir paperback ed. New York: Schirmer Books, 1966.

Tromlitz, Johann George, and Ardal Powell. The Virtuoso Flute-Player. Cambridge England; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Cambridge Musical Texts and Monographs Web.