The Short

descending, drop the Grace into the note, and in ascending, swell the Note into the Grace’. 1105
Not all tutors from this period concurred preciselywith the dynamic pattern proposed by Corri. J. F. Schubert
considered that
If afternotes [NachschlÄge] of this kind are to produce the desired effect the main note should be strongly attacked
and the afternote slurred very gently and weakly to the preceding note, particularly downwards. Only in vocal pieces
of a fiery, vehement character would I now and then, upward, but never downwards, allow the afternote to have
more accent than the main note. 1106
Fröhlich, on the other hand, who in the main poached his text directly from Schubert (including the above passage 1107 ),
illustrated the cercar della nota both upwards and downwards with a messa di voce pattern (Ex. 15.6.) He also observed: ‘A
portamento on a descending interval must be taken somewhat faster, as is marked by the little note at the fall of the
octave, so that no howling instead of singing results and the unbearable drawling will be avoided. The more distant the
interval, therefore, the faster it must be performed in descending.’ 1108 Later in the same treatise, where Schubert was
cited more or less verbatim, this type of treatment was advocated for rising portamentos.
Ex. 15.6.Fröhlich, Musikschule, 36
PORTAMENTO 567
Corri also gave an account of a related procedure where the portamento took place using the syllable of the second
note (this he was to call the ‘leaping grace’ in The Singer's Preceptor). He observed in the Select Collection that this grace ‘is
to be taken softly, and to leap into the note rapidly’, 1109 and in the later publication added: ‘the strength necessary to its
execution must be regulated more or less according to the distance of the Intervals’ 1110 (see above, Ex. 13.38.) As with
the ‘anticipation grace’, the rhythmic representation must be regarded as approximate; it is clear that in most
circumstances the grace-note would have been considerably shorter than a semiquaver. 1111 One consequence of this is
that, whereas with the ‘anticipation grace’ the portamento could be either rapid or drawn out, with the ‘leaping grace’
the portamento would seem almost invariably to have been executed rapidly, producing a quite different effect.This
can be clearly heard on Patti's and Moreschi's recordings. 1112
1105
The Singer's Preceptor, 32.
1106
Neue Singe-Schule, 56.
1107
Musikschule, 58.
1108
Ibid. 36.
1109
Vol. i. 8.
1110
The Singer's Preceptor, 32.
1111
See Ch. 13 for a fuller citation of Corri's description of grace-note execution, in which he says that ‘the more imperceptible they are, the more happy is the execution’ (A
Select Collection, i. 8).
1112
See Ch.12.