The Short

Ex. 13.92. Beethoven, Chorfantasie op. 80
Ex. 13.93. Mendelssohn, Lieder ohne Worte op. 19/ii, ed. Klindworth
Direct and Inverted Turns
APPOGGIATURAS AND GRACE-NOTES 515
At the end of the nineteenth century Edward Dannreuther, discussing the notation of turns, emphatically asserted that
‘with Hummel, as with all contemporary instrumentalists and vocalists, ?, when connecting one note with another,
meant a turn from above, and nothing else’. 946 The remark by Bernhard Romberg quoted above shows that this was
not true of at least one important figure among Hummel's contemporaries, as do the inconsistencies in Spohr's
notation of turns. Other information from the mid-nineteenth century indicates that Romberg's apparent willingness
to leave the choice to the performer was by no means eccentric. Adolf Bernhard Marx, a leading theoretical authority
of his generation, considered that ‘The turn from below is mostly explicitly written out with notes; but one can also
introduce it at the sign ?, if a gentler, more pensive expression is aimed at; and in this case it will be executed more
slowly’ He also felt, like Romberg, that the turn from below was generally more appropriate where the melody falls,
and, referring to both forms of turn, continued:
It is left to the taste of the performer to introduce this often very graceful ornament, which at the same time
wreathes and seeks the main note, even where it is not marked. But one should be sparing and thoughtful about it,
since a mass of such small figures easily becomes fussy and obscures and disturbs the deeper meaning and character
of the melody. 947
Among major composers of the second half of the nineteenth century in whose music the turn (either written out or
indicated by a sign) played an important part was Wagner. His practice in this matter, and the manner in
946
Musical Ornamentation, ii. 174.
947
In Schilling, EncyclopÄdie, art. ‘Doppelschlag’.