What  is  or*amentation?

 
Resources to start you off:
q  Grove Music online – article on
ornamentation. Includes audio/visual
examples as well as an exhaustive
bibliography.
q  Well known authors in the past 300
years: C.P.E. Bach, J. J. Quantz, Robert
Donnington, and Winton Dean
(specifically for Handel), and Giulio
Caccini (Le nuove musiche).
What is the purpose of
ornamentation?
q  To sustain and support the musical
interest of the piece.
q  To offer scope for the performer’s
virtuosity.
q  To extract additional layers of meaning
from the text.
Are there guidelines to follow?
q  Remain true to the spirit of the text and the
music. Ornaments must suit their context.
q  In a rage aria, or a quick, happy aria,
ornamenting outside of the musical range
and rhythm of the piece is allowed and
even expected.
q  Conversely, in a tragic aria, or a gentle aria,
the singer generally remains within the
musical and rhythmic range of the piece.
Can we over-ornament?
It’s all a
matter of
taste…..
Where do I start?
q  Listen to good recordings
q  Seek advice from experts in the field
But most importantly…
q  Try writing your own ornaments and
experiment with simple variations
q  Improvisation will be easier with a solid
base of tried and true ornaments that
work for you!
Ornaments can be grouped
according to musical function.
q  Rhythmic

q  Melodic

q  Appogiaturas, trills, turns, and mordents

Rhythmic

Example 1

This becomes... this... or this... or this, etc.

Reversal

Example 3

This becomes... this.

Melodic
q  Fill in intervals with passing tones

Example 4

This becomes... this, etc.

Example 5

This becomes this, etc.

q  Retrograde/reverse the direction of
motives

Example 6

This can become... this, etc.

q  Add leaps to passages

Example 7

This can become... this, etc.

Mimicry
q  Tiesornamentation to motives already
found in the score
q  Take hints from the composer and find
motives in the orchestral tuttis or in the
orchestra parts to copy and mimic
Appogiaturas, trills, turns, and
mordents
q  A good place to begin
q  They create a sense of spontaneity and
improvisation
q  They highlight the text, create and
release harmonic tension and show
cadential and crucial structural points in
the aria.
Appogiatura
q  Appogiare
- to lean; implies an
ornamented note expressively
emphasized and drawn out before being
more gently resolved to its ensuing main
note.
Trills
q  Cadences are a prominent feature of
Baroque music and few cadences can
escape the inevitable trill. (except
plagal).
q  As a general rule, start these trills on the
upper note (often an appogiatura). The
length of the beginning note of a trill
varies according to style.
Trills and turns

© Dolmetsch Organisation 2000 – 2013

Mordents
q  Literally
means “biting” and
assertiveness is expected.
q  They primarily function as rhythmic
ornaments.
As you begin…
q  Be liberal with your ornamentation as
you learn
q  Acknowledge the character of the music
q  Ornament according to the meaning of
the text

Through persistence and practice you will

develop stylistic ideas and guidelines that
best suit your vocal abilities!
Thank you, and enjoy the
remainder of the Sackville
Early Music Festival!