13.2 Ornamentation techniques and improvisation

Baroque music thrived on ornamentation and improvisation. These techniques added flair and personal expression to compositions. Trills, mordents, turns, and appoggiaturas were common ornaments, each with specific execution rules.

Improvisation played a crucial role in Baroque performance. Soloists embellished melodies, while ensemble players improvised harmonies. Treatises provided guidelines, helping musicians create authentic Baroque-style improvisations using chord structures and melodic patterns.

Ornamentation Techniques

Types of Baroque ornaments

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• Trills rapidly alternate between two adjacent notes usually starting on the upper note and ending on the main note can be accented or unaccented (examples: trill on a cadence, trill in a melody)
• Mordents consist of a single rapid alternation between the main note and the note above (upper mordent) or below (lower mordent) adds a quick embellishment to the main note (examples: mordent in a keyboard piece, mordent in a violin sonata)
• Turns are a series of four notes: upper neighbor, main note, lower neighbor, and main note can be performed as written or inverted starting with the lower neighbor (examples: turn in a slow movement, turn in a dance suite)
• Appoggiaturas are non-chord tones that resolve to a chord tone usually by step creates an accented dissonance that leans into the following note (examples: appoggiatura in a vocal aria, appoggiatura in a harpsichord piece)
• Acciaccaturas are very short appoggiaturas often notated as small grace notes performed rapidly before the main note (examples: acciaccatura in a keyboard sonata, acciaccatura in a concerto)

Execution of musical ornaments

• Timing: ornaments should be performed in the correct rhythmic context without disrupting the overall pulse (examples: trill timed correctly within a measure, mordent fitting into the beat)
• Articulation: ornaments can be legato or detached depending on the musical style and context trills and turns are often legato while mordents can be detached (examples: legato trill in a slow movement, detached mordent in a dance)
• Dynamics: ornaments should be performed at an appropriate dynamic level relative to the main melody avoiding overpowering the main musical line (examples: softly played appoggiatura, trill matching the dynamic of the phrase)
• Stylistic considerations: French Baroque ornaments are more delicate and refined Italian Baroque ornaments are more flamboyant and virtuosic German Baroque ornaments blend French and Italian styles (examples: French-style ornaments in Couperin, Italian-style ornaments in Corelli)

Improvisation in Baroque Music

Role of Baroque improvisation

• Solo works: keyboard instruments (harpsichord, organ) often featured improvised ornaments and embellishments melodic instruments (violin, flute) incorporated improvised variations and cadenzas (examples: improvised ornamentation in a Bach keyboard suite, improvised cadenza in a Vivaldi violin concerto)
• Ensemble works: basso continuo involved keyboard and bass instruments improvising harmonies based on figured bass notation concerto cadenzas featured soloists improvising virtuosic passages near the end of movements (examples: improvised continuo in a Handel opera, improvised cadenza in a Bach Brandenburg Concerto)
• Treatises and manuals: Baroque composers and theorists wrote treatises on improvisation techniques providing guidelines and examples for ornamentation and improvisation (examples: C.P.E. Bach's "Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments", Quantz's "On Playing the Flute")

Creation of Baroque-style improvisations

1. Analyze the chord structure of a Baroque piece identifying common progressions such as I-IV-V-I or I-vi-ii-V-I (examples: chord progression in a Bach chorale, harmonic structure of a Vivaldi concerto movement)
2. Study Baroque melodic patterns such as sequential patterns or arpeggiated figures using them as building blocks for improvisations (examples: sequential pattern in a Handel sonata, arpeggiated figure in a Scarlatti sonata)
3. Apply learned ornamentation techniques to improvised passages using trills, mordents, and turns to embellish the improvised melody (examples: adding trills to an improvised melody, using mordents in an improvised variation)
4. Create improvisations with clear phrases and musical structure using repetition, variation, and contrast to develop musical ideas (examples: improvising a variation on a theme, creating an improvised passage with a question-answer structure)