The Short

13 Appoggiaturas, Trills, Turns, and Related
Ornaments
In the matter of ornament notation, the musical archaeologist is working in extensively excavated ground. The finds
are abundant, but their identification and ordering are by no means straightforward; much of the information derived
from them is confusing and controversial. Considerable scholarly attention has been focused on ornament signs in the
music of the period and on theorists' accounts of the realization of ornaments; but these durable survivals, like the
artefacts from an excavation, represent only a relatively small proportion of what once existed. The ephemeral nature
of the aural experience has only left us with traces of evidence that are not easy to interpret. In the first half of the
period, especially, a mass of ornamentation was associated with the performance of all sorts of contemporary music,
and only a small proportion of it was indicated in the music by means of ornament signs; yet its absence from the
musical text does not by any means imply its absence from a good performance. As C. P. E. Bach observed: ‘pieces in
which all ornaments are indicated need give no trouble; on the other hand, pieces in which little or nothing is marked
must be supplied with ornaments in the usual way.’ 836
To ornament the music of the period convincingly it is important to understand not only the types of ornament that
are stylistically appropriate, but also the perceived function of ornaments at that time; this is nicely summed up by
Schulz, who observed that
They give the notes on which they are brought in more accent, or more charm, set them apart from the others and,
in general, introduce variety and to some extent light and shade into the melody. They are not to be seen merely as
something artificial, for feeling itself often generates them, since even in common speech abundance of feeling very
often brings
836 Versuch, i. II, 1, §11.