The Short

In general, however, it seems likely that in ensemble playing, and in the majority of normal circumstances, trills would
most commonly have concluded with the familiar two-note pattern. When composers in the later part of the
nineteenth century quite definitely did not want this they would certainly have had to indicate it, as DvoŘák did at the
beginning of his String Quartet op. 106 (see Ex. 13.2.)
Turns
The expressive effect of the turn depends on its position in relation to the note it ornaments, on its rhythmic
configuration, and on the speed at which it is executed. The relationship between the turn that embellishes the
beginning of a beat and the trill has always been close. C. P. E. Bach considered that the two ornaments were
interchangeable in many instances and felt that the principal difference was that, since his turns were normally more
rapid at the beginning than at the end, ‘there is always a small space between them and the following note’. His
examples of turns show that only at a very fast tempo might the notes of the turn be even (Ex 13.63.) For Bach the
turn (Doppelschlag) was principally
Ex. 13.63. C. P. E. Bach, Versuch, table v, fig. L
APPOGGIATURAS AND GRACE-NOTES 501
an accenting ornament. 926 Leopold Mozart used the term ‘mordent’ for a similar pattern of notes (and the inverted
form), but his explanation of its performance, influenced by Italian practice, was different from Bach's, for he
considered that ‘The stress of the tone falls on the note itself, while the mordent, on the contrary, is slurred quite softly
and very quickly on to the principal note’ (Ex. 13.64.) He was particularly emphatic about the speed of the ornament.
For Mozart this was essentially an improvised ornament, to be applied where a note was to be given particular
liveliness. 927 Domenico Corri, from the singer's point of view, gave a somewhat different explanation of their execution,
instructing that ‘The Ascending Turn, begins softly, and encreases [sic] its strength as it rises, then gently again sinks
into the note’ (Ex. 13.65(a),) while ‘The Descending Turn, begins strong, and decreases its strength as it falls, then rises
into the note strong again’ (Ex. 13.65(b).) 928 Corri, Niccolo Pasquali, Justin Heinrich Knecht, and other writers also,
however, illustrated
926
Versuch, i. II, 4, §§1 ff.
927
Versuch, XI, §§10 ff.
928
A Select Collection, i. 8.