121
DOI: 10.4312/mz.61.2.121-179
UDK: 78.07Tartini G.:781.65”17”
The Practice of Embellishments During  
Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
Camilla Rubagotti
University of Ljubljana
ABSTRACT
This paper is aimed to give an overview of the European musical context of Tartini’s rules 
for embellishments. By underlining similarities and differences in treatises and methods pu-
blished during the violinist’s lifetime, it thus underlines how many points of view coexisted 
in Europe in the early Eighteenth century. 
Keywords: embellishments, Tartini, eighteenth-century music
IZVLEČEK
Članek želi dati vpogled v evropski glasbeni kontekst Tartinijevih pravil za okraševanje. Z 
opazovanjem podobnosti in razlik v razpravah oz. učbenikih, objavljenih v času violinisto-
vega življenja, prikazuje pestrost pogledov na to vprašanje, ki so sobivali v Evropi na začetku 
osemnajstega stoletja.
Ključne besede: okraševanje, Giuseppe Tartini, glasba 18. stoletja
muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lxi/2
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Topic and Research Hypothesis
This paper is focused on the practice of embellishing melodies during the life-
time of Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770); its aim is to situate the thought of the 
Piranese violinist, music teacher and theoretician into a wide European con-
text. The graces considered in this analysis are those mentioned in his Regole 
per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino [Rules to Learn How to Play the Violin 
Well]1 namely appoggiatura,2 trill [trillo],3 vibrato [tremolo]4 and mordent 
[mordente]5. These rules, which are a collection of Tartini’s didactic material, 
is also known under the title of its first print edition, Traité des Agrémens de la 
Musique [Treatise on Ornaments in Music], 1770.6 This French translation by 
the mandolinist Pierre Denis, most likely prepared without the author’s autho-
rization, was published in Paris shortly after Tartini’s death.7 Though the print 
edition was posthumous, manuscript texts of the rules for embellishments al-
ready circulated all over Europe during the author’s lifetime.8 
Such a wide diffusion of the Regole was surely made possible by Tartini’s 
students,9 who came from different areas of Europe or went abroad after perfect-
ing their violin playing in the so-called “School of the Nations” in Padua.10 The 
Piranese was such a renowned musician, violin teacher and intellectual in the 
cultural and musical life of his time that he held contacts with important person-
alities of his time and was deeply esteemed by many – Jean-Jacques Rousseau or 
Euler, just to mention a few names.11 Tartini, however, did not meet universal ap-
proval; Johann Joachim Quantz expressed merciless judgements about his play-
ing in his own Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen [On Playing 
the Flute, 1752]12 – which testified, at any rate, the violinist’s continental renown. 
1 Giuseppe Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino [s. a.], Ms. 323 (Venice: Biblioteca 
del Conservatorio di Musica “B. Marcello”).
2 Tartini’s appoggiatura can be either long or short; for its resolution, it can only descend: the 
Piranese violinist resolutely condemns the usage of ascending appoggiaturas.
3 Tartini’s trill, which corresponds to the modern trill, can have diverse beginnings and endings, in 
different tempo and in various musical contexts.
4 Tartini’s tremolo is actually the modern vibrato.
5 The function of Tartini’s simple mordent (involving the lower auxiliary) and that of the ascending 
or descending turn or compound mordent (a sort of turn before the beat) is quite different from 
the modern mordent’s: it is imperceptibly short and must be heard as a sort of accent.
6 Pierluigi Petrobelli, Giuseppe Tartini: Le fonti biografiche (Wien: Universal Edition, 1968), 
205–206.
7 Ibid., 105–106.
8 Ibid., 105, 107.
9 Ibid., 107.
10 Sergio Durante, Tartini, Padova, l ’Europa (Livorno: Sillabe, 2017), 44.
11 Cf. Giorgia Malagò (ed.), Giuseppe Tartini / Pisma in dokumenti / Letters and Documents, vol. 1, 
transl. Jerneja Umer Kljun and Roberto Baldo (Trieste: Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2020), 260, 
319.
12 Durante, Tartini, Padova, l ’Europa, 41–42, 68–69.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
123
Therefore, it is undeniable that Giuseppe Tartini was well integrated into the 
cultural, intellectual and musical life of Eighteenth-century Europe13 – he even 
lived in Prague for three years (1723–1726).14 
This analysis will thus be aimed to trace a context and to reveal to what 
extent Tartini’s theories on embellishments agreed or disagreed with those of 
his English-, French- and German-speaking colleagues. This will be done by 
taking into account the characteristics of the embellishments presented by dif-
ferent musicians to identify similarities and differences in the indications on 
performance practice. However, the terminology used by each author will not 
be overlooked, as the consistency or identity between a signifier and its mean-
ing is not to be underestimated, all the more in such multilingual context.
Relevant Literature and Novelties of the Present Analysis
Eighteenth-century treatises have long been studied and compared; they form 
a corpus of sources that are essential in order to understand musical thought, 
taste and performance, teaching and instrumental technique. Some scholars 
have considered various aspects of musical performance over a wider period 
of time in a wider15 or narrower16 geographical area, while others have com-
pared fewer treatises published in a narrower period of time17. Some have used 
treatises and methods to study different elements, such as theory,18 instru-
mental technique19 and specific aspects of musical performance20 or didactical 
13 Cf. Malagò (ed.), Giuseppe Tartini; Durante, Tartini, Padova, l ’Europa.
14 Pierluigi Pietrobelli, Tartini, le sue idee e il suo tempo (Lucca: Libreria musicale italiana, 1992), 5, 6.
15 E. g. Arnold Dolmetsch, L’Interpretazione della Musica dei Secoli XVII e XVIII, ed. Luca Ripanti 
(Milan: Rugginenti, 1994).
16 E. g. Jean-Claude Veilhan, Les règles de l‘interprétation musicale à l ’époque baroque (Paris: Leduc, 
1977).
17 E. g. Dieter Gutknecht, “Aspekte zur Aufführungspraxis in den Lehrwerken von C. P. E. Bach, Joh. 
J. Quantz, Leopold Mozart und Fr. W. Marpurg: Ein Vergleich”, in Fragen der Aufführungspraxis 
und Interpretation von Werken Carl Philipp Emanuel Bachs: Ein Beitrag zum 200. Todestag, ed. Thom 
Eitelfriedrich (Blankenburg: Kultur- und Forschungsstätte Michaelstein, 1989), 54–59; Ingeborg 
Harer, “Der musikalische Vortrag um 1750: Dargestellt am Beispiel der Instrumentalschulen von 
Johann Joachim Quantz, C. Ph. E. Bach und Leopold Mozart”, Musikerziehung 44 (1990): 1–23.
18 E. g. Karl Braunschweig, “Enlightenment Aspirations of Progress in Eighteenth-Century 
German Theory”, Journal of Music Theory 57, no. 2 (2003): 273–304.
19 E. g. David D. Boyden, “The Violin and Its Technique in the 18th Century”, The Musical Quarterly 
36 (1950): 9–38; Robin Stowell, “Violin Bowing in Transition: A Survey of Technique as Related 
in Instruction Books”, Early Music 12, no. 3 (1984): 316–327; Luca Aversano, “Struttura e 
principi della didattica del violino nel Settecento italiano”, in Italienische Intrumentalmusic des 18. 
Jahrhundert: Alte und neue Protagonisten, eds. Enrico Careri and Markus Engelhardt (Lilienthal: 
Laaber-Verlag, 2002), 267–288.
20 E. g. Henri Vanhulst, “La pratique de l‘improvisation d‘après les traités de clavier de l‘empfindsamer 
Stil”, Revue belge de Musicologie / Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Muziekwetenschap 25, 1/4 (1971): 108–
153; David Ledbetter, “On the Manner of Playing the Adagio: Neglected Features of a Genre”, 
Early Music 29, no. 1 (2001): 15–26.
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metho dology.21 Others have used a corpus of treatises to put a specific musi-
cian into his European context.22 
As for Giuseppe Tartini, Pierluigi Petrobelli underlined his influence on 
Leopold Mozart’s Violinschule. Indeed, in his essay about Tartini’s influence in 
Germany, he stressed how much Mozart’s description of graces – both rules 
and musical examples – owes to Tartini’s Regole.23 
The present study is the first attempt at putting the Piranese’s rules into 
a wide European frame, by means of a multilingual corpus and a qualitative 
approach to the digital humanities (Qualitative Content Analysis or QCA). 
Methodology
In choosing the text of the Regole to be used in this analysis, the complex edi-
torial history of the work has been considered; besides Pierre Denis’s transla-
tion, which is known to show some misunderstandings with respect to Tartini’s 
source,24 five manuscripts are known today.25 The version that has been chosen 
as a base for this analysis is that of the violinist’s pupil Giovanni Francesco 
Nicolai.26 It seems a final draft and shows a particular care on the part of the 
copyist in comparison with other versions.27
Other texts have then been selected to be compared with Nicolai’s manu-
script. All of these have been chosen among treatises and methods relating 
to graces in melodic lines; texts addressing ornamentation in the bass line 
have been excluded from this analysis because this topic is not considered the 
Regole. As the purpose of this analysis is to observe Tartini’s ideas on em-
bellishments into a coeval European landscape, the geographical – and thus 
linguistic – area covered by this analysis is quite wide: it includes English-, 
French- and German-speaking countries as well as Italy. The authors selected 
21 E. g. Ana Garde Badillo, “Tratados y enseñanza inicial del Violín en el s. XVIII”, Quodlibet 
60, no. 3 (2015): 7–25; Alejandra Lopera Quintanilla and María del Pilar Lopera Quintanilla, 
“Referencias históricas sobre el perfil didáctico del maestro de música del siglo XVIII a partir de 
tres tratados europeos de la época”, ANTEC – Revista Peruana de Investigación Musical 4, no. 2 
(2020): 125–137.
22 Emilio Moreno, “Aspectos técnicos del tratado de violín de José Herrando (1756): El violín 
español en el contexto europeo de mediados del siglo XVIII”, Revista de Musicología 11, no. 3 
(1988): 555–655.
23 Petrobelli, Pierluigi. “La scuola di Tartini in Germania e la sua influenza”, in Tartini, le sue idee e il 
suo tempo (Lucca: Libreria musicale italiana, 1992), 81–100.
24 Petrobelli, Giuseppe Tartini, 117.
25 “Archives: Letters – Giuseppe Tartini’s Treatises and Theoretical and Educational Texts”, Discover 
Tartini, accessed February 18, 2025, https://www.discovertartini.eu/archives/detail/2.
26 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino.
27 Erwin R. Jacobi, “G. F. Nicolai’s manuscript of Tartini’s Regole per ben suonar il violino”, Musical 
Quarterly 47, no. 2 (1961): 212, 218.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
125
for the German-speaking countries are J. F. Agricola,28 C. P. E. Bach,29 E. 
G. Baron,30 G. S. Loehlein,31 F. W. Marpurg,32 J. Mattheson,33 L. Mozart34 
and J. J. Quantz;35 the selected texts in French language were written by J. 
A. Bérard,36 J. Blanchet,37 S. de Brossard,38 M. Corrette,39 F. Couperin,40 J. le 
R. D’Alembert,41 J. Hotteterre,42 M. L’Affilard,43 É. Loulié,44 A. Mahaut,45 C. 
Masson,46 M. P. de Montéclair,47 J.-J. Rousseau,48 M. de Saint-Lambert49 and 
28 Johann Friedrich Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst (Berlin: G. L. Winter, 1757), 53–122.
29 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, vol. 1 (2nd ed.) 
(Berlin: G. L. Winter, 1759), 45–100.
30 Ernst Gottlieb Baron, Historisch-theoretisch und practische Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten 
(Nuremberg: J. F. Rüdiger, 1727), 165–173.
31 Georg Simon Loehlein, Clavier-Schule (Leipzig: Auf Kosten der Waisenhaus und Frommanischen 
Buchhandlung, 1765), 14–15.
32 Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen (Berlin: Haude & Spener, 1755), 
36–60, Tab. III-IV-VI; Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, Die Kunst das Clavier zu spielen (Berlin: 
Henning, 1750), 11, 12, 14, 26.
33 Johann Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg: C. Herold, 1739), 110–120, 
242–244.
34 Leopold Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule (Augsburg: J. J. Lotter, 1756), 193–251.
35 Johann Joachim Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen (Berlin: J. F. Voss, 
1752), 77–89, 118–135.
36 Jean-Antoine Bérard, L’art du chant (Paris: Dessaint & Saillant, Prault fils, Lambert, 1755), 
112–146.
37 Jean Blanchet, L’art, ou Les principes philosophiques du chant (2nd ed.) (Paris: A.-M. Lottin, M. 
Lambert, N. Bon Duchesne, 1756), 112–138.
38 Sébastien de Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique (Paris: C. Ballard, 1703).
39 Michel Corrette, Méthode pour apprendre aisément à joüer de la flute traversière (Paris: Me. Boivin, 
[s. a.]), 20–35; Michel Corrette, Le parfait maitre à chanter (Paris: author, [s. a.]), 47–50. 
40 François Couperin, L’art de toucher le clavecin (Paris: author, Foucault, 1716), 8, 11–12, 17–27, 31, 
38, 60–61; François Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, vol. 1 (Paris: author, Foucault, 1713), 74–75.
41 Jean le Rond D’Alembert, Elémens de musique, théorique et pratique, suivant les principes de M. 
Rameau (Paris: David l’aîné, 1752), 52.
42 Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, Méthode pour la musette (Paris: J. B. C. Ballard, 1738), 21–32, 36–52, 
56–64; Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, Principes de la flute traversière, ou flute d’Allemagne; de la flute à 
bec, ou flute douce; et du haut-bois (8th ed.) (Paris: J. B. C. Ballard, 1741), 14–16, 21–38, 45–49, 54.
43 Michel L’Affilard, Principes très-faciles pour bien apprendre la musique (2nd ed.) (Paris: C. Ballard, 
1705), 25–27.
44 Étienne Loulié, Eléments ou Principes de musique mis dans un nouvel ordre (Paris: C. Ballard, 1696), 
66–76.
45 Antoine Mahaut, Nouvelle méthode pour Aprendre en peu de tems à Joüer de la Flute Traversière 
(Paris: De Lachevardière, 1759), 11–12, 16–23.
46 Charles Masson, Nouveau traité des règles pour la composition de la musique (3rd ed.) (Paris: C. 
Ballard, 1705), 21.
47 Michel Pignolet de Montéclair, Principes de musique (Paris: V.ve Boivin, 1736), 77–92.
48 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Dictionnaire de Musique (Paris: V.ve Duchesne, 1768), 5, 13, 27, 30, 34–35, 
49, 58–59, 67–68, 86–87, 153, 175–176, 221, 235–237, 275, 337, 372, 378, 384, 387, 429, 430, 521, 
523, 531, 533, 541–542, Planche B.
49 Michel de Saint-Lambert, Les principes du clavecin (Paris: C. Ballard, 1702), 42–66.
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A. de Villeneuve50; the selected authors representing the English-speaking area 
are F. Geminiani,51 J. Grassineau,52 N. Pasquali,53 W. Pearson,54 J. Playford,55 P. 
Prelleur,56 H. Purcell,57 C. Simpson;58 finally, other Italian works by G. Tartini59 
and P. F. Tosi60 were used.
As the present analysis focuses on embellishments, the sections about bow-
ing, cadenze and modi of Nicolai’s manuscript have been excluded.61 The ele-
ments to be analyzed have thus been identified: they are, in Tartini’s terminol-
ogy, appoggiatura, trillo, tremolo and mordente.62 Similarly, the chapters about 
embellishments of the selected European texts63 have been isolated. These 
relevant sections have been transcribed with the help of the online software 
Transkribus in order to make it possible for the software Atlas.ti24 to read the 
resulting corpus. 
The approach of this analysis is that of Qualitative Content Analysis 
(QCA), as defined by Udo Kuckartz64 and Karsten Mackesen.65 After the 
above-described preparation of the data and beginning of text work, the 
50 Alexandre de Villeneuve, Nouvelle méthode très courte et très facile (Paris: author, Boivin, Le Clerc, 
1733), 38–39.
51 Francesco Geminiani, A Treatise of Good Taste in the Art of Musick (London: author, 1749), 2–4, 
“Examples”; Francesco Geminiani, The Art of Playing on the Violin (London: J. Johnson, 1751), 
6–8, 26.
52 James Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary (London: J. Wilcox, 1740), 1, 5, 17–18, 29, 33, 61, 65–66, 
76, 90, 99–102, 144, 182, 192, 202, 205, 214–215, 226, 227, 267, 283–284, 289–291, 322.
53 Nicolò Pasquali, The Art of Fingering the Harpsichord (Edinburgh: R. Bremner, 1760?), 1–2, 14–15, 
17–18, 20, plate I.
54 William Pearson, The Compleat Musick-Master (3rd ed.) (London: author, 1722), 16, 27, 41, 53–54, 
66.
55 John Playford, An Introduction to the Skill of Musick (12th ed.), ed. Henry Purcell (London: E. 
Jones, 1694), 31–46.
56 Peter Prelleur,”An Introduction to Singing”, in The Modern Musick-Master (London: author, 
1731), 11; “The Newest Method for the Learners on the German Flute”, in The Modern Musick-
Master, 4–11; “Instructions upon the Hautboy”, in The Modern Musick-Master, 7–8; “The Art 
of Playing on the Violin”, in The Modern Musick-Master, 7–8; “The Harpsichord Illustrated and 
Improv’d”, in The Modern Musick-Master, 4–5.
57 See chapter “Rules for Graces”, in Henry Purcell, A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord 
or Spinnet (London: H. Playford, 1696), [9].
58 Christopher Simpson, The Division-Viol (3rd ed.) (London: W. Pearson, 1712), 10–12.
59 See Tartini’s letter to Maddalena Lombardini in Malagò (ed.), Giuseppe Tartini, vol. 1, 186–189.
60 Pier Francesco Tosi, Opinioni de’ cantori antichi, e moderni (Bologna: L. della Volpe, 1723), 19–29.
61 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 1–3, 20–43.
62 Ibid., 4–19.
63 Cf. notes 28–60.
64 Udo Kuckartz, “Qualitative Text Analysis: A Systematic Approach”, in Compendium for Early 
Career Researchers in Mathematics Education, eds. Gabriele Kaiser and Norma Presmeg (Cham: 
Springer, 2019), 181–198.
65 Karsten Mackesen, “‘Ungezwungene Leichtigkeit’ Qualitative Verfahren in einer historischen 
Musiksoziologie”, in Soziale Horizonte von Musik: Ein kommentiertes Lesebuch zur Musiksoziologie, 
eds. Christian Kaden and Karsten Mackensen (Kassel: Bärenreiter-Verlag, 2006), 270–297.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
127
formation of the main categories – which correspond here to appoggiatura, 
trillo, tremolo and mordente66 – and subsequent coding of the data has taken 
place. The following creation of subcategories has been based on the char-
acteristics attributed to the embellishments by the various authors as for 
their structure, usage and purpose. From this, the following category-based 
analysis has been drawn.
Analysis
The present analysis is divided into five parts, which are dedicated to the long 
or held appoggiatura [appoggiatura lunga o sostentata] and the short or passing 
appoggiatura [appoggiatura breve o di passaggio], the trill [trillo], the vibrato 
[tremolo or tremolio], the turn [mordente compost] and the lower trill [mordente 
semplice].67
Long or Held Appoggiaturas – Short or Passing Appoggiaturas 
In his Regole, Tartini mentions different kinds of long appoggiatura:68 by con-
joint or disjoint degree, ascending or descending.69 He recommends the usage 
of descending appoggiaturas if they move by step; this is due to the nature of 
harmony, because dissonances cannot ascend, but always resolve downwards.70 
The long appoggiatura is accented; it falls on the strong beats of the bar and is 
naturally followed by a trill.71 The short appoggiatura can be used on any beat 
of the bar on all crotchets and quavers descending by seconds or thirds and is 
followed by a mordent in the rendition.72 If the interval between the notes is 
wider, the appoggiatura can be both ascending and descending, always long 
and deduced from the preceding note.73 
Tosi mentions both ascending and descending appoggiaturas by conjoint74 
or disjoint degree,75 though he gives different general rules. A sharp note can 
ascend a semitone and go back down; a natural note can ascend to a flat note 
by a semitone; a flat note cannot ascend by semitone; F#, G#, A#, C# and D# 
cannot ascend by a semitone with an appoggiatura.76 An appoggiatura cannot 
66 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 4–19.
67 Ibid., 4–19.
68 All the embellishments henceforth treated can be found in a table in the appendix. 
69 Ibid., 4, 9.
70 Ibid., 8.
71 Ibid., 4–5.
72 Ibid., 7–8.
73 Ibid., 9.
74 Tosi, Opinioni de’ cantori antichi, e moderni, 20–21.
75 Ibid., 22.
76 Ibid., 20–21.
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go from minor to major thirds (and vice versa); two appoggiaturas one after 
another cannot move by semitones; if an appoggiatura cannot ascend, it cannot 
descend either.77 
The treatises of the German-speaking countries bear great similarities to 
Tartini’s text, notably Leopold Mozart’s: he, too, claims that a descending 
appoggiatura is more natural than an ascending one because of the nature 
of harmony, as dissonances always resolve downwards; the only exception is 
that of appoggiaturas rising a semitone.78 Though he does not mention any 
preferences, Loehlein too shows only descending appoggiaturas by conjoint 
degree in his table of examples.79 The melodic direction of Quantz’s appog-
giatura does not depend on harmony, but on melody: if the preceding note 
is lower than that where the appoggiatura should be performed, an ascend-
ing appoggiatura is better.80 Bach affirms that ascending long appoggiaturas 
[veränderliche Vorschläge] usually repeat the preceding note, while descending 
ones may repeat it or not.81 According to Agricola, ascending and descend-
ing appoggiaturas have different functions if they are combined with other 
embellishments;82 for instance, the appoggiatura after a trill with nachschlag 
(addition at the end of the trill) must be ascending, but if the trill with nach-
schlag begins with an appoggiatura, the appoggiatura repeating the last note of 
the nachschlag can be both ascending and descending.83
According to Tartini, the length of the appoggiatura is usually a half of 
the value of the note – two thirds in the event of dotted notes “whose value is 
that of three notes”.84 The same goes for Agricola, Bach, Loehlein, Quantz85 
and Mozart, who calls them long appoggiatura [langer Vorschlag] and longer 
appoggiatura [längerer Vorschlag] respectively.86 They also claim that, in the case 
of a longer note tied to a shorter one, the appoggiatura takes all the value of 
the longer note (according to Quantz, only if the first note is dotted);87 Mozart 
also mentions particular cases with half notes.88 Bach, Agricola and Mozart 
77 Ibid.
78 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 194.
79 Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 14.
80 Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, 77–78.
81 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 57.
82 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 78.
83 Ibid., 79.
84 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 5.
85 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 61; Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 57; 
Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 14; Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, 79.
86 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 195–197.
87 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 57 (cf. Tab. III Fig. VI); Mozart, Versuch 
einer gründlichen Violinschule, 195–197; Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 62; Loehlein, Clavier-
Schule, 14; Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, 79.
88 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 195–196.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
129
also add that, in the event of a note followed by a pause, the appoggiatura takes 
the whole value of the note, while the real note is heard in the pause89 – which 
serves thus as a tied note or a dot which, as Bach claims, would be more correct 
forms of writing.90 Marpurg reports all the common practices, but he does not 
seem to agree with the lack of precision: he claims that the little note of an ap-
poggiatura should be written precisely according to its value, most of all in the 
case of tied notes and pauses.91 Quite differently, Mattheson only claims that a 
long appoggiatura [doppelter Accent], takes half of the value of the note, which 
is thus delayed.92 Agricola, Bach and Loehlein mention that appoggiaturas can 
take more than a half of the note;93 Agricola and Bach also specify that this 
depends on the affect.94 
Some German-speaking authors present the softening of the appoggiatura 
[Abzug]. According to Bach, the appoggiatura is softened if the main note is 
simple and light95 – Marpurg defines it as weak and almost disappearing.96 
On the other hand, Quantz claims that this kind of appoggiatura, which has 
an Italian origin, also requires a soft beginning, a crescendo on the appoggia-
tura and a somewhat weaker main note.97 This seems quite similar to Tartini’s 
simple descending appoggiatura [appoggiatura semplice discendente], which is 
identical to Mozart’s,98 with a messa di voce with a crescendo on the first 
half and a diminuendo on the second half of the appoggiatura, before falling 
sweetly and softly on the main note.99
As for appoggiaturas by disjoint degree, Mozart agrees with Tartini (it must 
be long and deduced form the preceding note).100 Marpurg specifies that this 
kind of appoggiatura must either repeat the preceding note, in which case it is a 
real appoggiatura [eigentlicher Vorschlag] or use a note belonging to the harmo-
ny, which gives rise to the improper appoggiatura [uneigentlicher Vorschlag].101 
89 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 57–58 (cf. Tab III FIg. VII); Agricola, 
Anleitung zur Singkunst, 61; Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 197; Quantz, Versuch 
einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, 80.
90 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 58.
91 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 47.
92 Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 112.
93 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 63; Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 59; 
Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 14.
94 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 63; Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 59.
95 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 56.
96 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspiele, 48, 49.
97 Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, 78.
98 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 199.
99 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 4–5.
100 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 198, 205.
101 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 49.
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Mattheson describes the appoggiatura by disjoint degree [Sprung-Accent]102 as 
a new kind of appoggiatura, used both upwards and downwards in leaps from 
fourths to octaves; all the examples show long appoggiaturas but their char-
acter is described as mocking, brittle, impudent and arrogant,103 while Tartini 
deems them useful in cantabile sostenuto, grave and patetico.104
Not all appoggiaturas are long: the Regole also present the short passing 
appoggiatura.105 Tartini’s descending passing appoggiatura is used on notes of 
equal value descending by thirds or seconds; its length is undetermined and the 
accent falls on the real note.106 Bach, Agricola, Quantz and Mozart too write 
that short/passing appoggiaturas [unveränderliche/durchgehende Vorschläge] are 
used in descending thirds.107 Agricola adds that on short notes going down-
wards by conjoint degree, a short appoggiatura can be used instead of a trill 
or a short trill [Pralltriller].108 Sometimes repeated notes in the upbeat and 
downbeat followed by a descending second are mentioned as well.109 Mozart’s 
examples also include short inferior appoggiaturas on ascending scales;110 on 
the other hand, Tartini claims that this is a misunderstanding between an ap-
poggiatura and a note.111 Agricola clarifies that appoggiaturas that do not re-
peat the preceding note can only descend,112 thus short appoggiaturas can be 
used to fill descending thirds.113 Like Tartini,114 Agricola and Bach explain 
that this kind of appoggiatura can be used both on long or short notes,115 
and Agricola explicitly says that not all the appoggiaturas in the downbeat 
102 Though in German terminology the term Vorschlag is normally used to designate an appoggiatura, 
two interesting cases are to be pointed out. Marpurg, in his Anleitung, uses Vorhalt as well – 
though this does not make any difference in the usage, as he mentions ascending and descending 
appoggiaturas by conjoint and disjoint degree, etymology shows a concept. He mentions that it is 
a kind of Accent together with the Nachschlag (which is actually more similar to the French accent 
than appoggiatura is). Mattheson, in his turn, tends to use the term Accent instead of Vorschlag; he 
mentions appoggiaturas by conjoint and disjoint degree as well, which he consistently calls Stufer- 
or Sprung-Accent.
103 Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 112–113.
104 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 9.
105 Ibid., 7–8.
106 Ibid.
107 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 58; Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 65–
66; Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 206; Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte 
traversiere zu spielen, 78.
108 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 104, 112.
109 E.g. Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 67. 
110 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 206.
111 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 8.
112 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 65.
113 Ibid., 67.
114 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 7.
115 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 58.
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131
are long.116 According to Agricola, if short appoggiaturas are used on long 
notes in the downbeat, their length is somewhere between that of short and 
long appoggiaturas;117 this is quite different from Tartini’s views (the longer the 
note, the shorter the appoggiatura).118
Mozart underlines that the passing appoggiatura does not belong to the 
value of the following note but to that of the preceding note, that the force 
falls on the main note instead of the appoggiatura and that it is normally 
used in descending thirds and in ascending or descending scales.119 In his 
examples, Tartini never actually shows appoggiaturas taken from the value of 
the preceding note except in the case of ascending scales, where he underlines 
that this kind of grace is not an appoggiatura.120 Indeed, according to him, 
the passing appoggiatura is very short and the strength in bowing must fall 
afterwards, so that the main note is heard more than the appoggiatura,121 it 
would be reasonable to think that the appoggiatura comes before its beat. As 
for upbeats and downbeats, Agricola claims that appoggiaturas always belong 
to the value of the following note;122 nonetheless, he underlines an ambiguity 
in the rendition of short appoggiaturas, as they are performed in both ways.123 
Agricola remarks that taking the value of the appoggiatura from the preced-
ing note is a characteristic of the French style, used by many to distinguish a 
short appoggiatura from the Lombard rhythm.124 Quantz and Mozart claim 
that, unlike the long appoggiatura – or the long, longer or short appoggia-
tura (though the accent falls main note) played on the beat [anschlagender 
Vorschlag], a passing appoggiatura’s value is taken from the preceding note.125 
According to Bach, its value is taken from the following note, but it is so fast 
that a listener can barely notice the loss.126 However, Mattheson claims that 
both long [doppelter Accent] and short [einfacher Accent] appoggiaturas take 
their value from the following note.127
116 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 72.
117 Ibid.
118 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 7.
119 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 206–207.
120 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 8.
121 Ibid., 7.
122 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 60.
123 Ibid., 68.
124 Ibid.
125 Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, 79; Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen 
Violinschule, 206.
126 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 58.
127 Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 112.
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As for additions to long appoggiaturas, according to Tartini, a trill naturally 
follows;128 he shows passing appoggiaturas with mordents.129 Agricola as well 
shows short trills on notes ascending by a second, whether with or without an 
appoggiatura.130 However, it is commonly recommended to add a simple or 
double mordent on the main note after an appoggiatura ascending by conjoint 
degree: Agricola, Marpurg, Quantz, Bach and Mattheson show this combina-
tion131 – which, according to Mattheson, is particularly common in singing;132 
Agricola also shows appoggiaturas by disjoint degree with a mordent [Mor-
dent], used mostly in recitatives.133 Loehlein’s short mordent [kurzer Mordent] 
includes an appoggiatura before the mordent, quite similarly to the French.134 
In German texts, a short trill or turn [Doppelschlag] is sometimes added, e.g. by 
Agricola, Bach, Mozart and Quantz.135
Mozart shows many kinds of additions to his appoggiaturas, among which 
the Zwischenschlag between the appoggiatura and the main note.136 His as-
cending [aufsteigender] Zwischenschlag137, which he particularly recommends to 
help appoggiaturas rising a whole tone138, looks similar to Tartini’s condemned 
double ascending appoggiatura [appoggiatura ascendente composta],139 though 
the Zwischenschlag is faster. 
Tartini also forbids the use of another kind of double ascending appoggi-
atura, which ascends and then descends [appoggiatura ascendente composta in 
altro modo, cioè che cominci ascendendo, e finisca discendendo].140 Mozart, like the 
other German-speaking authors, differs from Tartini on this point. He de-
scribes an appoggiatura of two notes with the addition of the tone over the 
main note [Vorschlag mit zwo Noten wenn man den über der Hauptnote stehen-
den Ton darzu nimmt] based on an ascending appoggiatura by conjoint degree 
whose notes are very short.141 The same grace is described in other treatises 
128 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 5.
129 Ibid., 8.
130 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 111.
131 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 113; Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 59; Quantz, Versuch 
einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, 80; Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu 
spielen, 87; Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 119–120.
132 Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 119–120.
133 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 113–114.
134 Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 15.
135 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 119; Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 80; 
Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 214–215; Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte 
traversiere zu spielen, 80.
136 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 207–208.
137 Ibid., 208.
138 Ibid., 201.
139 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 9.
140 Ibid.
141 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 202.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
133
as well, but its usage is not discouraged at all. Tartini shows an appoggiatura 
made of a longer note followed by a shorter one,142 while the German double 
appoggiatura [Anschlag] can also have two notes of the same value.143 Tartini’s 
grace is quite similar to Agricola’s, Bach’s and Loehlein’s dotted double ap-
poggiatura [punctierter Anschlag, Anschlag mit der Punkte and langer Anschlag 
respectively], whose first note is dotted.144 Marpurg’s dotted double appog-
giatura foresees a much longer appoggiatura.145 Tartini’s other kind of double 
ascending appoggiatura starts from an inferior appoggiatura by conjoint de-
gree, ascends by a third and descends by a second arriving on the main note.146 
Loehlein’s, Bach’s, Agricola’s and Marpurg’s dotted double appoggiaturas have 
the same structure.147 Bach’s, Agricola’s and Marpurg’s double appoggiatura, if 
it is not dotted, can be based on ascending appoggiaturas both by conjoint and 
disjoint degree; though the first ascending interval can be wider than a third, it 
is always followed by a descending second.148 
The French musicians considered in this analysis show quite a different idea 
from Tartini’s: the ascending appoggiatura by conjoint degree [port de voixg is 
the true and most usual kind of appoggiatura. Indeed, Prelleur (in an English 
text) defines it as an ascending appoggiatura149 and Mahaut specifically says 
that the French appoggiatura usually ascends by conjoint degree, while Italians 
use both ascending and descending appoggiaturas.150
As for the descending appoggiatura, it is sometimes described, but it is 
defined as a different embellishment. Hotteterre and Villeneuve, for instance, 
present a descending appoggiatura [coulement] alongside the ascending one, 
but limiting its usage to conjoint degree in descending thirds; 151 it is a kind 
of passing appoggiatura. Montéclair claims that his descending appoggiatura 
142 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 9.
143 Quantz’s and Bach’s Anschlag, Agricola’s unpunctierter Anschlag, Loehlein’s kurzer Anschlag and 
Marpurg’s Doppelvorschlag, which is also mentioned in countermovement (in Gegenbewegung), i.e. 
based on a descending appoggiatura by conjoint degree (Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 
51, Tab. IV).
144 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 86; Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 15; Bach, Versuch über die wahre 
Art das Clavier zu spielen, 92 (cf. Tab. VI).
145 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 51, Tab. IV.
146 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 9.
147 Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 15.
148 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 85; Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 92; 
Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, Tab. IV.
149 Prelleur, “The Newest Method for the Learners on the German Flute”, in The Modern Musick-
Master, 9; “Instructions upon the Hautboy”, in The Modern Musick-Master, 7–8; “The Art of 
Playing on the Violin”, in The Modern Musick-Master, 7–8; “The Harpsichord Illustrated and 
Improv’d”, in The Modern Musick-Master, 4–5.
150 Mahaut, Nouvelle méthode pour Aprendre en peu de tems à Joüer de la Flute Traversière, 22–23.
151 Hotteterre, Principes de la flute traversière, 32; Villeneuve, Nouvelle méthode très courte et très facile, 
38–39.
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[coulé] can be used on many occasions – though he, too, mentions descend-
ing thirds as an emblematic situation.152 However, there is an exception: Saint 
Lambert’s appoggiaturas [port de voix simple or appuyég can be both ascend-
ing and descending.153 Saint Lambert’s descending passing appoggiatura [demy 
port de voix] is specifically dedicated to descending thirds.154 
Tartini recommends using passing descending appoggiaturas on descend-
ing thirds, but he cites ascending thirds as a proof of the unnaturalness of 
ascending appoggiaturas.155 Villeneuve and L’Affilard, on the contrary, add a 
double appoggiatura [port de voix double or double] for ascending thirds: they 
repeat the preceding note and add the passing note.156
Appoggiatura by disjoint degree is not usually mentioned; Montéclair’s de-
scending appoggiatura by disjoint degree is taken from the preceding note but, 
unlike Tartini’s,157 it is quite short (a semiquaver on a minim).158 Most authors 
only explain that an ascending appoggiatura must be played by conjoint degree 
but do not specify whether the best distance is a tone or a semitone; however, 
both can be used according to Corrette159 and Montéclair, though the latter 
specifies that mostly semitones are used.160
Just like in Germany, ascending appoggiatura is sometimes mentioned in 
combination with a mordent on the main note, and some even claim that it 
is mandatory to add it. For instance, Hotteterre mentions this combination,161 
foresees this possibility while presenting mordents on various notes162 and 
claims that the mordent is a part of the ascending appoggiatura, two moments 
of a single action.163 Saint Lambert mentions this combination too (Chutte 
& Pincé by D’Anglebert).164 Rousseau’s only example of appoggiatura has a 
mordent165 and Montéclair claims that it always has one.166 Couperin adds 
a simple or double mordent [pincé simple or double], on the simple or double 
152 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 78–79.
153 Saint-Lambert, Les principes du clavecin, 49.
154 Ibid., 50.
155 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 7–8.
156 Villeneuve, Nouvelle méthode très courte et très facile, 38–39; Michel L’Affilard, Principes très-faciles 
pour bien apprendre la musique (2nd ed.), 26–27.
157 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 9.
158 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 78.
159 Corrette, Le parfait maitre à chanter, 49.
160 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 79.
161 Hotteterre, Principes de la flute traversière, 33; Hotteterre, Méthode pour la musette, 58–59.
162 Hotteterre, Principes de la flute traversière, 35–36, 48–50; Hotteterre, Méthode pour la musette, 
59–60.
163 Hotteterre, Méthode pour la musette, 61.
164 Saint-Lambert, Les principes du clavecin, 48–49.
165 Rousseau, Dictionnaire de Musique, Planche B.
166 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 84.
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135
appoggiatura [port de voix simple or double] respectively, but he also presents 
a tied appoggiatura [port de voix coulé] without any added mordent.167 This 
ascending appoggiatura with a mordent bears similarities to the German texts 
rather than the Regole: Tartini, on the contrary, seems to combine short de-
scending appoggiaturas with mordents and long ones with trills. 
Tartini recommends using long appoggiaturas on the strong beats of the 
bar, while short appoggiaturas can be used in any beat on descending thirds or 
seconds.168 The French appoggiatura is usually on the strong beats too.
Mahaut specifies that the Italian appoggiatura takes a half or two thirds of 
the note and writes it in the downbeat, just like the Piranese’s long appoggia-
tura.169 However, most do not mention the Italian usage and tend to use short 
notes and claim or show that the accent falls on the real note: as for meter, 
the French appoggiatura is similar to Tartini’s short appoggiatura (though, of 
course, it is reversed). It is worth to remember that Agricola defined the appog-
giatura taken from the preceding note as a typical characteristic of the French 
style.170 L’Affilard’s divides and repeats the preceding note during its value (two 
quavers in the place of a crotchet) and has the main note with a mordent in the 
following downbeat.171 Loulié’s ascending appoggiatura lasts a quarter of the 
note and is shown both before and on the beat, while his descending appog-
giatura is only before the beat.172 Villeneuve’s ascending and descending ap-
poggiaturas are really short (a semiquaver on a minim) and clearly taken from 
the preceding note.173 Rousseau’s and Couperin’s are on the beat and last a half 
of the note like Tartini’s174 but, unlike it, they have a mordent;175 Couperin’s 
tied appoggiatura without the mordent lasts a half of the note.176 Therefore, 
an ambiguity is not only found in German-speaking countries. Saint Lambert 
openly writes that not all musicians agree whether the appoggiatura should be 
taken from the time of the preceding or of the main note, but he doubts that 
playing it on the beat is the best way of expressing it on the harpsichord.177 
One mention of the softening of the appoggiatura (similar to Tartini’s ren-
dition of the simple appoggiatura) can be found: Bérard’s and Blanchet’s soft-
ened appoggiatura [port de voix feint] swells on the grace note and falls softly 
167 Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 74.
168 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 5.
169 Mahaut, Nouvelle méthode pour Aprendre en peu de tems à Joüer de la Flute Traversière, 22–23.
170 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 68.
171 L’Affilard, Principes très-faciles pour bien apprendre la musique (2nd ed.), 26–27.
172 Loulié, Eléments ou Principes de musique mis dans un nouvel ordre, 89.
173 Villeneuve, Nouvelle méthode très courte et très facile, 38–39.
174 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 4–5.
175 Rousseau, Dictionnaire de Musique, Planche B; Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 74.
176 Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 74.
177 Saint-Lambert, Les principes du clavecin, 49.
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on the main note,178 while the whole appoggiatura [port de voix entier] sustains 
or swells the real note.179 
In English, both ascending and descending appoggiaturas are presented, 
though often separately. The event of appoggiaturas by disjoint degree is never 
clearly mentioned in the texts considered in this analysis. Overall, the English 
corpus seems closer to the French texts than to Tartini; nevertheless, the re-
lationship between the two kinds of appoggiaturas is clearer in terminology, 
as they do not normally have completely different names. Pearson’s ascending 
and descending appoggiaturas (fore fall and back fall respectively) for viols 
can be based on tones or semitones.180 Purcell and Prelleur, as well as Simpson 
with his ascending and descending appoggiaturas (plain-beat or rise and back-
fall), clearly show the value of appoggiaturas, which is of one quarter of the 
note.181 Though Pasquali’s appoggiaturas [appogiatures] have the same value, 
he does not make terminological distinctions.182 Grassineau defines ascending 
and descending passing appoggiaturas [apogiatura] used in thirds or fifths, as 
well as long ascending appoggiaturas [port de voix] through Bacilli’s definition, 
with a sustained lower note, the main note and its doubling, which is to be 
sustained as well; he adds that this embellishment is also called anticipation by 
some.183 He also reports other ornaments by Mr. Lambert, where descending 
and ascending appoggiaturas (backfall and forefall respectively) have a value 
of one quarter of the note.184 In his flute method, Prelleur says that the ap-
poggiatura [port de voix] ascends and adds that a mordent is often joined to it; 
the descending appoggiatura (slide) is only used as a passing appoggiatura in 
descending thirds.185 
On the contrary, Geminiani claims that the descending appoggiatura [su-
perior appoggiatura or appoggiatura superior] is the most usual kind of ap-
poggiatura, while the ascending appoggiatura [inferior appoggiatura or ap-
poggiatura inferior] can only be used when the melody rises by a second or a 
third with a mandatory mordent.186 As for value, both superior and inferior 
178 Bérard, L’art du chant, 118, 131; Blanchet, L’art, ou Les principes philosophiques du chant, 116, 
125–126.
179 Bérard, L’art du chant, 117–118, 129–130; Blanchet, L’art, ou Les principes philosophiques du chant, 
115–116, 124–125.
180 Pearson, The Compleat Musick-Master, 27, 41, 53–54, 66.
181 Purcell, A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinnet, [9]; Prelleur, “The Harpsichord 
Illustrated and Improv’d”, in The Modern Musick-Master, 4; Christopher Simpson, The Division-
Viol, 12.
182 Pasquali, The Art of Fingering the Harpsichord, plate I.
183 Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary, 182.
184 Ibid., 102.
185 Peter, “The Newest Method for the Learners on the German Flute”, in The Modern Musick-
Master, 9.
186 Geminiani, A Treatise of Good Taste in the Art of Musick, 2; Geminiani, The Art of Playing on the 
Violin, 7.
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137
appoggiaturas have to last more than a half of the note and they have to be 
performed with a messa di voce.187 In his examples, he shows appoggiaturas 
lasting a half of the note, always with a messa di voce and also combined a 
simple trill [plain shake or trillo semplice] or trill with a nachschlag [turn’d 
shake or trillo compost].188 Geminiani’s appoggiaturas are longer than Tartini’s, 
as they can last more than a half of the note;189 Geminiani allows the usage of 
inferior appoggiaturas,190 while Tartini shows them only to demonstrate how 
unnatural it is for appoggiaturas to rise191 – it is not unlike the French appog-
giatura followed by a mordent.
Trill
In order to play a trill, Tartini states that the force must be on the finger giving 
the main note, while the finger that has to trill must be light.192 The trill can 
only be of a tone or semitone; if the bass requires a wider interval, it is reason-
able to exceed a tone, but it nonetheless unpleasant for the ear.193 
There are three kinds of trill: slow [tardo] for grave, pathetic, and melan-
cholic music, middle [mediocre] for moderate allegro and fast [veloce] for fast 
pieces, allegro, con spirito.194 It is essential for a good musician to practice and 
master all these kinds of trill in order to use the right kind at the right place, 
and because on a cadenza (which is not tied to the tempo) the trill must grow 
from the slowest to the fastest speed.195 The trill can also be performed with 
a messa di voce, which has a good effect notably on trills of growing speed – 
from slow and piano to fast and fortissimo.196
A trill can start directly from the upper auxiliary, but it can also be prepared 
from above [parecchiato di sopra] with long appoggiatura or prepared from be-
low [parecchiato di sotto] with notes similar to the beginning of a trill – a sort 
of lower ribattuta.197 There are different ways to end it, many of which are, 
however, artificial.198 The two trills with natural endings are the first kind of 
187 Ibid.
188 Geminiani, A Treatise of Good Taste in the Art of Musick, “Examples”; Geminiani, The Art of Playing 
on the Violin, 26.
189 Geminiani, A Treatise of Good Taste in the Art of Musick, 2; Geminiani, The Art of Playing on the 
Violin, 7.
190 Geminiani, A Treatise of Good Taste in the Art of Musick, 2, “Examples”; Geminiani, The Art of 
Playing on the Violin, 7, 26.
191 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 8.
192 Ibid., 9.
193 Ibid., 10.
194 Ibid.
195 Ibid., 11.
196 Ibid., 11–12.
197 Ibid., 11.
198 Ibid.
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final trill [primo modo di trillo finale], where the main note is slightly held and 
then falls on the anticipation of the lower second, and the second kind of final 
trill [secondo modo di trillo finale];199 here the main note is slightly held, then 
the lower second and the main note are heard; a passing appoggiatura can be 
added on the last note of the trill.200 
The trill is always used on the second-to-last note of any kind of cadence.201 
The aforementioned trill of growing speed is well suited to a final cadence 
(thus for a free cadenza),202 while other cadences require another type of trill, 
with two added notes at the end (the German nachschlag), which is natural 
and cantabile.203 A passing appoggiatura can be added on the last note before 
the main one is heard.204 It is impossible to ascend by conjoint degree with a 
trill without these two notes but in this case, the passing appoggiatura cannot 
be used (Tartini gives examples of it with descending seconds).205
There is a kind of trill deduced from the portamento on the ascending 
or descending scale, which is done by sliding a finger; it is good on notes 
moving by conjoint degree, but not by disjoint degree – it is a chain of trills 
[andamento di trilli].206 He also mentions a kind of trill that is not beaten, 
but slurred; it is done by quickly oscillating the wrist, never letting the finger 
leave the string.207
Tartini advises to avoid the trill on the first note of a melody and on con-
secutive notes except for the chain of trills.208 There are many other rules de-
termined by balance, which the violinist defines as a law of equality.209 For 
example, if the trill is on the first note of the bar, it will fall on the odd notes; if 
it is on the anacrusis, it will be on even notes in order to avoid trills on consecu-
tive notes.210 If the first two notes of a quadruplet are slurred, the trill falls on 
the first; if the last three are slurred, it falls on the middle note.211 In the event 
of dotted notes, the trill on the dot has a good effect.212 If the dotted notes 
move by step, the trill suits both notes: on the long one, it makes the expression 
199 Ibid.
200 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
201 Ibid., 13.
202 Ibid., 11, 13.
203 Ibid., 13.
204 Ibid.
205 Ibid.
206 Ibid., 12.
207 Ibid.
208 Ibid., 15.
209 Ibid., 14.
210 Ibid.
211 Ibid.
212 Ibid.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
139
more cantabile; on the short one, more suonabile (lit. playable) and bold.213 On 
syncopated notes, the trill falls on the strong beat.214
Tosi as well underlines that trills are used on cadences215 and that using 
them too often spoils the music;216 however, he claims that a good trill must be 
equal, beaten and moderately fast.217 Tosi describes eight kinds of trill: the ma-
jor trill [trillo maggiore] has a full tone218 and the minor trill [trillo minore] has 
a semitone;219 the short trill [mezzotrillo] is shorter, faster and more brilliant;220 
the ascending [cresciuto] and descending [calato] trill moving imperceptibly 
comma by comma are not used anymore in his time;221 the slow trill (trillo 
lento) usually goes towards a faster trill222 and it is boring223; the double trill 
[trillo raddoppiato] has notes interposed; 224 the mordent [trillo mordente] is 
faster and short.225 Like Tartini, Tosi claims that a trill can be of either a tone 
or semitone; 226 however, he mentions short, ascending and descending trills, 
he prefers equal trills227 and finds slow trills boring228. Tosi also claims that the 
trill should be prepared, but sometimes this is not allowed by time or taste; 
however, it is generally prepared in cadences.229
In his additions to Tosi’s text, Agricola claims that the real trills [eigentli-
cher Triller] of both tone and semitone are used more often in his days than in 
Tosi’s (with or without appoggiaturas and cadences, just to give brilliance and 
even at the beginning of a piece) but as composers have started to write them, 
singers have to worry about rendition rather than placing.230 Agricola recom-
mends not adding unwritten appoggiaturas.231 His nachschlag, or addition at 
the end of the trill (similar to Tartini’s second kind of final trill) can be held for 
213 Ibid.
214 Ibid., 15.
215 Tosi, Opinioni de’ cantori antichi, e moderni, 28.
216 Ibid., 29.
217 Ibid., 25.
218 Ibid.
219 Ibid., 26.
220 Ibid.
221 Ibid., 26–27.
222 Ibid., 27.
223 Ibid., 29.
224 Tosi, Opinioni de’ cantori antichi, e moderni, 27; cf. Agricola’s interpretation (Agricola, Anleitung zur 
Singkunst, 102).
225 Tosi, Opinioni de’ cantori antichi, e moderni, 27–28.
226 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 10.
227 Tosi, Opinioni de’ cantori antichi, e moderni, 25.
228 Ibid., 29.
229 Ibid., 28.
230 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 106–108.
231 Ibid., 109. 
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a while in special circumstances (dotted notes),232 while Tartini’s comes after a 
little stop on the main note.233 Agricola’s example of a trill on a half cadence is 
on the last note and does not foresee a nachschlag,234 while Tartini’s are always 
followed by this addition;235 moreover, the Piranese’s are on the second-to-last 
note, regardless of the kind of cadence.236 He does not tolerate the addition of 
the passing appoggiatura on the last note of the nachschlag,237 which Tartini 
describes as cantabile and beautiful.238 The short trill (halber Triller or Prall-
triller) has no nachschlag, it is shorter and sharper and does not last as long as 
the note itself.239 The ascending [höher gezogener] and descending [tiefer wer-
dender Triller] are presented alongside the ascending or descending chain of 
trills [Catena di trilli or Kette von Trillern],240 equivalent to Tartini’s.241 As for 
the slow trill [langsamer Triller] Agricola adds, citing Quantz,242 that speed is 
tied to register (Tartini too mentions the difference between a trill on the first 
and fourth string of the violin) and that the shake of some French musicians 
is exceedingly slow.243 Agricola’s compound trill [verdoppelter Triller or Dop-
peltriller] is equivalent to Bach’s:244 an ascending or descending turn is added 
at the beginning, creating a compound trill from below or above [Triller von 
unten or von oben respectively].245 Agricola also shows a compound trill from 
below preceded by a lower ribattuta,246 which is also mentioned by Tartini to 
prepare a simple trill from below.247 
According to Bach, the trill was once used only after an appoggiatura [an-
geschlossener Triller] or on a repeated note; in his days, however, there are no 
such limitations, though he warns to be careful when using trills in affettuoso 
music.248 Its dynamics and tempo depend on the affect, but he, like Tosi,249 
232 Ibid.
233 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
234 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 109–110.
235 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 13.
236 Ibid.
237 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 111.
238 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 13.
239 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 111.
240 Ibid., 100.
241 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 12.
242 Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, 85.
243 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 101.
244 Cf. Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 69–72.
245 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 101–102.
246 Ibid., 112.
247 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
248 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 62.
249 Tosi, Opinioni de’ cantori antichi, e moderni, 25, 27.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
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mentions only an equal and fast trill.250 The normal trill [ordentlicher Triller] 
starts on the upper auxiliary and it can be made livelier with a nachschlag (two 
notes added at the end);251 the trill without nachschlag is usually placed on 
short notes and followed by a descending interval.252 Tartini, however, shows 
examples of trills with this kind of ending followed by falling seconds as well 
as a rising ones; he states that it is impossible to ascend after the trill with-
out a nachschlag (in this event, the passing appoggiatura cannot be added).253 
Bach also mentions a double trill of thirds [Tertien-Triller], but he warns to 
use it in a performance only if it is sharp and equal.254 As for the beginning 
of the trill, he mentions compound trills starting with ascending or descend-
ing turns, which Tartini does not show, starting from the note below or above 
the real one.255 Bach also mentions an example of what Tartini describes as a 
trill prepared from below (with notes similar to the beginning of a trill)256 – 
though Bach’s trill from below is a compound trill.257 The short trill is shorter, 
faster and brilliant;258 it is used on descending seconds, be it normal notes or 
appoggiaturas.259 
Loehlein presents four kinds of trills that are quite similar to Bach’s:260 
simple trill [simples Trillo], compound trill from above or below [Trillo von oben 
herein or von unten heraufg, the short trill [Pralltriller or Abzug];261 all the long 
trills have a nachschlag.262
Baron describes his Trillo exactly as Tartini’s trill for final cadences:263 with 
both accelerando and crescendo.264
Mattheson explains the trill [Trillo or Triller] and the short trill [Trilletto] 
as the clear and sharp beating of two interchanged notes, criticizing those who, 
like Georg Falck, trill on one note only.265 He explains that French singers like 
to sing trills slowly, so they are clean but weak.266 On the contrary, Italians 
250 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 63.
251 Ibid.
252 Ibid., 67.
253 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 13.
254 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 65.
255 Ibid., 69-72.
256 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
257 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 71.
258 Ibid., 72.
259 Ibid., 73.
260 Ibid., 63.
261 Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 15.
262 Ibid.
263 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
264 Baron, Historisch-theoretisch und practische Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten, 167.
265 Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 114.
266 Ibid., 115.
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make them fast, strong and short, almost like a short trill; on long notes, how-
ever, they must be more careful in order to spare breath.267 On long notes, slow 
and fast trills are mixed and alternated.268 Though trills of the right speed and 
length can ornate a melody as no other grace can do, Mattheson too warns that 
trilling too often does no good to the music.269 This author also talks about a 
chain of trills [Cadena di trilli or Trill-Kette]270 like Tartini’s; however, he claims 
that this grace can be used only on notes ascending by conjoint degree,271 while 
Tartini makes no differences between ascending and descending notes.272 Mat-
theson also describes a Tenuta: it is a ribattuta followed by a long trill,273 which 
might look similar to Tartini’s trill prepared from below, but as the ribattuta 
uses the main and upper note274 instead of the lower, it is the actual beginning 
of a trill rather than a preparation from below. 
Marpurg describes the trill as a sequence of descending appoggiaturas by 
conjoint degree performed as fast as possible – a description, he claims, that 
does not contradict the more traditional explanation of a rapid exchange of the 
main note with the second above it.275 He says that the duration of the trill de-
pends of the value of the note on which it is and that the designation short trill 
[Halbtriller] could forego without damage.276 According to him, there are only 
two kinds of trill: the simple trill [einfacher Triller] ending on a held main note 
and the trill with a nachschlag [zusammengesezter Triller or Doppeltriller].277 
Marpurg claims that the trill with a nachschlag can also be explained as a turn 
[Doppelschlag] whose first two notes are trilled278 – Bach’s trilled turn [pral-
lender Doppelschlag].279 This is very different in Tartini’s text, where there is a 
substantial difference between a second kind of final trill (similar to a trill with 
nachschlag) and a turn, where the accent falls on the main note.280 Marpurg 
also mentions the possibility of substituting the nachschlag with the anticipa-
tion of the following note both upwards and downwards,281 while Tartini’s first 
267 Ibid.
268 Ibid.
269 Ibid.
270 Ibid.
271 Ibid.
272 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 12.
273 Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 118.
274 Ibid.
275 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 53.
276 Ibid., 54–55.
277 Ibid., 55.
278 Ibid.
279 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 81–82.
280 Cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11, 17.
281 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 58, Tab. VI.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
143
kind of final trill only shows an anticipation falling by a second.282 Marpurg also 
mentions Bach’s short trill [Pralltriller] and short upper mordent [Schneller].283 
He also describes the compound trill from above or below [gezogner/geschlei-
fter Triller], which is preceded by an ascending or descending turn and usually 
ends with a nachschlag.284 Like Tartini’s, Marpurg’s trill can also begin with 
a descending appoggiatura,285 which means that the upper auxiliary note is 
held a bit before the trill [vorbereiteter/accentuirter/schwebender Triller].286 It 
is particularly interesting that Marpurg explicitly mentions Tartini’s playing 
[tartinischen Spielart]: he shows a series of bad trills (with a wrong nachschlag 
or the end note veiled by added graces such as appoggiatura, mordent or turn) 
and claims that they come partly from the unfortunate imitation of Tartini’s 
style, partly from the Polish dances. 287 Some examples seem to refer to the 
turn, but no trace of these additions can be found in the Regole: if an appog-
giatura is added, it is before the last note of the nachschlag.288 
Quantz underlines that the trill must be equal,289 but it can be slower or 
faster depending on many elements, notably the register,290 the room and the 
music.291 He mentions a trill of thirds [Terzentriller] that used to be done and 
that, in his time, is still modish among some Italian violinists and oboists;292 
Tartini never mentions a trill built with the third, though he actually mentions 
one with an augmented second, reasonable but never agreeable for the ear.293 In 
Quantz’s view, a perfect and brilliant trill always starts with an appoggiatura, 
which can be short or long (in the first case it is a simple trill, while in the sec-
ond it is a trill prepared from above), and ends with a nachschlag.294 
Mozart’s indications for the trill are quite similar to Tartini’s: the force is 
on the finger playing the main note, while the finger that trills must be light.295 
Mozart, like Quantz, criticizes trills built with the third: he reports Tartini’s 
282 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
283 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 57.
284 Ibid.
285 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
286 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 57. 
287 Ibid., 58, Tab VI.
288 Cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 10–19.
289 Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, 84.
290 Ibid., 85.
291 Ibid., 83–84.
292 Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, 84.
293 The interval is the same, though it is considered differently: Mozart reports Tartini’s instructions 
calling this interval a minor third (cf. Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 218); Quantz’s 
hint could thus refer to it as well.
294 Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, 85; cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a 
saper ben suonare il Violino, 10.
295 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 217.
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trill with the augmented second (he calls this interval minor third too), claim-
ing that an important Italian master teaches it to his students, but he too sug-
gests using another grace rather than a trill.296 As for the beginning of the trill, 
Mozart reports the trill prepared from above with a descending appoggiatura 
and from below with a ribattuta;297 he also adds the appoggiatura with the 
addition of the shortly heard upper note298 (or Ueberwurf, like Tartini’s other 
kind of double ascending appoggiatura),299 which Tartini does not mention in 
this context because he does not allow its usage. As for endings, he reports the 
Piranese violinist’s concepts and examples transposed from C major to B flat 
major;300 he only adds that the short trill [Trilleto] starts with a short appog-
giatura and ends with a quick nachschlag.301 The three levels of speed and the 
trill going from slow to fast and from piano to forte on final cadences are the 
same as Tartini’s.302 He also mentions the difference between trills on the first 
and fourth strings: he explicitly states that the trill is faster on the first because 
higher strings move faster than lower,303 which was implied in the Regole.304 
Mozart claims that the long appoggiatura before the trill must take a half of its 
value, but if the trill is at the beginning of a passage, the appoggiatura is hardly 
heard and it becomes the accented beginning of the trill305 – this view is quite 
similar to Quantz’s, who claims that the appoggiatura of a trill is as long as the 
notes of the trill if it introduces a new thought after a pause.306 Like Tartini, he 
recommends using a nachschlag on half cadences.307 Like Marpurg,308 he criti-
cizes the use of appoggiaturas on the end note of a cadence, but he reports Tar-
tini’s appoggiatura on the last note of the nachschlag – saying, as he does, that 
the trill becomes more beautiful and cantabile.309 In the case of an ascending 
note following the trill, Mozart mentions the possibility of adding either an 
296 Ibid., 218.
297 Ibid., 219.
298 Ibid.
299 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 9.
300 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 220; cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare 
il Violino, 11.
301 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 220.
302 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 220–221; cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben 
suonare il Violino, 10–11.
303 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 221; cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare 
il Violino, 11.
304 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
305 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 222–223.
306 Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, 86.
307 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 223; cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare 
il Violino, 13.
308 Cf. Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 58, Tab VI.
309 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 224; cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare 
il Violino, 13.
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145
anticipation or an appoggiatura from the lower third on the following note.310 
As for where to use trills, the indications and examples311 recall quite closely 
Tartini’s law of equality: the only missing topic is syncopation.312 Mozart also 
presents ascending and descending chains of trills [aufsteigende and absteigende 
Triller]; he recommends not taking the bow off the string and playing the 
notes in one bow stroke only, changing its direction on the strong beats of the 
bar.313 Like Tartini, Mozart claims that the finger can never leave the string, 
but he adds that a violinist must know both how to change fingers properly 
on this embellishment and how to trill a chromatic scale too.314 While Tartini 
claims that this grace is mostly effective in notes moving by step,315 Mozart 
advises using it on leaps in the cadenza of a lively allegro.316 He also describes 
a chain of trills that has a brief fall on an empty string after each note, where 
the trill must be held a bit longer and the fall is hardly heard.317 Mozart also 
presents a double trill [Doppeltriller] on two strings at the distance of a third 
(also used in a chain of trills) or sixth318 that is not mentioned in the Regole.
According to Rousseau, there are only two kinds of trills: the trill prepared 
with an appoggiatura [cadence pleine]319 – like Tartini’s trill prepared from 
above320 – and the trill without preparation [cadence brisée]321. 
Loulié’s trill is a repetition of shakes and it can be simple (two shakes), 
double (four shakes) or triple (six shakes).322 It describes the trill without 
preparation [tremblement non appuyé or sans appuy] and the trill prepared from 
above [tremblement appuyé] like Tartini’s, whose length depends on the value 
of the trilled note.323 Loulié’s equivalent of a trill with a nachschlag, i.e. a trill 
ending on a turn [tour de gosier] is explained as a trill with the first note of the 
310 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 224.
311 Ibid., 225–227.
312 Cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 14–15.
313 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 227–229.
314 Cf. Ibid., 228–229. 
315 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 12.
316 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 229. 
317 Ibid., 230.
318 Ibid., 230–235.
319 In French texts, the trill is often called cadence instead of tremblement; most likely, as Rousseau 
points out, owing to the habit of using it on the second-to-last note of a musical phrase. This 
relationship between trills and cadences is quite clear in Tartini’s Regole as well. D’Alembert 
considers cadence a word of common usage (D’Alembert, Elémens de musique, théorique et pratique, 
suivant les principes de M. Rameau, 52); Masson claims it is used in singing (Masson, Nouveau 
traité des règles pour la composition de la musique, 21).
320 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
321 Rousseau, Dictionnaire de Musique, 67.
322 Loulié, Eléments ou Principes de musique mis dans un nouvel ordre, 70.
323 Ibid., 70–71.
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last shake lowered by a third; it can have more or less shakes, just like a trill.324 
His flatté or flattement is a simple trill of two shakes followed by a descending 
interval [chute].325
Montéclair identifies four kinds of trills, all of which cannot exceed a 
second: he explicitly shows that trills involving wider intervals are wrong.326 
Moreover, the trill must have only the main note and the upper auxiliary: 
trills involving higher or lower notes [tremblement haut or bas respectively] are 
wrong too.327 The slow trill is good in languorous or plaintive music, while the 
fast trill is used in serious or cheerful music.328 His trill can end with a turn – 
the German nachschlag, thus without Tartini’s slightly held main note – or an 
anticipation (chute).329 He describes the trill prepared from above [tremblement 
appuyé], whose preparation has a value depending on that of the whole trilled 
note,330 the trill without preparation [tremblement subit],331 the false trill [trem-
blement feint], prepared but not beaten as the upper auxiliary is heard just once 
at the end of the note,332 the trill with nachschlag [tremblement double or double 
cadence with a turn or tour de gosier]333 without Tartini’s held main note.334
According to Mahaut, French musicians begin trills with an appoggiatura 
and double the speed of the final beats, while the Italians prefer it equal and 
with no appoggiatura335 (Tartini’s, though, is quite different).336 He too pres-
ents the trill with nachschlag [double cadence], whose last two notes can be 
either slurred or articulated depending on taste.337
Couperin mentions the necessity of increasing the speed of the trill, though 
he claims that the increase must be imperceptible.338 A quite long trill has three 
parts, preparation [appuy], shakes [batemens] and termination [point-d’arest]; 
all other trills are arbitrary.339 In his Livre de pièces, he presents different kinds 
of trills: a long trill [tremblement continu] is held on the whole value of a very 
long note. In reference to the note following the final turn (or nachschlag), 
324 Ibid., 73–74.
325 Ibid., 73.
326 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 82.
327 Ibid.
328 Ibid., 81.
329 Ibid.
330 Ibid.
331 Ibid., 82.
332 Ibid., 83.
333 Ibid., 84.
334 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
335 Mahaut, Nouvelle méthode pour Aprendre en peu de tems à Joüer de la Flute Traversière, 12.
336 Cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
337 Mahaut, Nouvelle méthode pour Aprendre en peu de tems à Joüer de la Flute Traversière, 12.
338 Couperin, L’art de toucher le clavecin, 23.
339 Ibid., 24.
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147
a trill can be open [ouvert] or closed [fermé] if it is followed by a rising or 
falling second respectively.340 Moreover, as to preparations, trills can be tied 
and prepared [appuyé et lié], tied without preparation [lié sans etre appuyé] or 
unprepared [détaché]; all are preceded by the same note as the upper auxiliary, 
but in the first case the preceding note is tied to the trill and used as a prepara-
tion, in the second it is tied but not used as a preparation and in the third it is 
repeated.341
In his flute method, Corrette claims that the trill must be beaten softly and 
then accelerated and he shows the last notes doubling the speed342 – just as 
Mahaut describes the French trill.343 In his singing method, Corrette describes 
seven kinds of trills: a trill whose preparation lasts a half of the note [cadence 
appuyée], an unprepared trill [cadence précipitée], a trill stopping on the main 
note [cadence coupée], a false trill [cadence feinte] whose preparation is followed 
by one beat only, a trill with nachschlag [double cadence], a trill ending with an 
anticipation [cadence fermée] and an Italian trill [cadence Italienne] stopped on 
the main note with a final addition of two notes (reminiscent of a nachschlag) 
followed by a descending second344 – this seems quite similar to Tartini’s sec-
ond kind of final trill.
Hotteterre too mentions a preparation [préparation or port-de-voix] last-
ing as long as the following trill;345 he also presents the trill with nachschlag 
[double cadence].346
According to Saint-Lambert, the trill always ends on the real note; a long 
trill is performed at best by increasing its speed, while a short trill is better 
if it is fast.347 Saint-Lambert also reports D’Anglebert’s five kinds of trills – 
simple and prepared trill [tremblement simple and appuyé], two compound trills 
[cadences] and a trill with nachschlag [tremblement & pincé]348 – and Nivers’s 
agrément (which is actually a mordent), unprepared trill [cadence] and trill with 
nachschlag [double cadence].349
Bérard and Blanchet present five trills: prepared [cadence appuyée], increas-
ingly fast [précipitée], slow and dying [molle], dotted and heavy [double cadence] 
and demi-cadence or coup de gorge.350 The preparation of the prepared trill lasts 
340 Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 74.
341 Ibid.
342 Corrette, Méthode pour apprendre aisément à joüer de la flute traversière, 21–22.
343 Mahaut, Nouvelle méthode pour Aprendre en peu de tems à Joüer de la Flute Traversière, 12.
344 Corrette, Le parfait maitre à chanter, 48–49.
345 Hotteterre, Principes de la flute traversière, 15, 21.
346 Ibid., 35.
347 Saint-Lambert, Les principes du clavecin, 43.
348 Ibid., 46–47.
349 Ibid., 47.
350 Bérard, L’art du chant, 114–117; Blanchet, L’art, ou Les principes philosophiques du chant, 117–120.
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a half of the note (one third in unequal tempo) and is slightly separated from 
the trill itself; the shakes are slow at the beginning, then become faster and 
close the trill falling on the final note.351 The increasingly fast trill is faster and 
foresees increasing speed.352 The slow trill has slower shakes and a muffled 
sound, the voice dying out by degrees.353 The dotted and heavy trill might seem 
similar to Tartini’s trill prepared from below,354 but the dotted notes are actually 
the beginning of a trill with heavy shakes becoming faster and faster,355 as in 
Mattheson’s Tenuta.356 The half trill (demi-cadence) starts with a preparation, 
the force of the sound swells and then diminishes, and the trill ends with two 
or three half-shakes [demi-martellemens] or sometimes like the prepared trill, 
but more softly357 – it is a sort of false trill. 
Villeneuve shows different kinds of trills: the trill stopping on the main 
note [cadence coupée], the trill with nachschlag [double cadence batuë on ascend-
ing seconds, the prepared trill ending with an anticipation of the following 
note [double cadence apuyée, batuë et fermée].358 The second is similar to Tartini’s 
second kind of final trill and the third to Tartini’s first prepared from above 
with a long appoggiatura, but these trills do not seem to linger on the real note 
before the additions, while the anticipation is much longer than Tartini’s.359 
L’Affilard, like Villeneuve,360 presents the trill with nachschlag and the pre-
pared trill ending with an anticipation of the following note shows; he also 
shows the false trill and the trill without preparation,361 substantially equiva-
lent to Montéclair’s above-mentioned trills.
Brossard claims that the trill [trillo, tremolo or tremoletto] can be a French 
trill [cadence/tremblement à la Françoise] of two notes, a real Italian trill [trillo 
à l ’Italienne] – which means one note only repeated at increasing speed, like 
351 Bérard, L’art du chant, 114–115, 122–125; Blanchet, L’art, ou Les principes philosophiques du chant, 
117–118, 127–129.
352 Bérard, L’art du chant, 115, 125–126; Blanchet, L’art, ou Les principes philosophiques du chant, 118, 
129.
353 Bérard, L’art du chant, 115–116, 126–127; Blanchet, L’art, ou Les principes philosophiques du chant, 
118, 130.
354 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
355 Bérard, L’art du chant, 116, 127–128; Blanchet, L’art, ou Les principes philosophiques du chant, 119, 
130–131.
356 Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 118.
357 Bérard, L’art du chant, 117, 128–129; Blanchet, L’art, ou Les principes philosophiques du chant, 119–
120, 131–132.
358 Villeneuve, Nouvelle méthode très courte et très facile, 38–39.
359 Cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
360 Villeneuve, Nouvelle méthode très courte et très facile, 38–39.
361 L’Affilard, Principes très-faciles pour bien apprendre la musique (2nd ed.), 26–27.
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Georg Falck’s362 – or a trill with nachschlag [double cadence/tour de gosier].363 He 
also mentions a short trill [trilletto]364 and a ribattuta di gola (double if it has a 
nachschlag) quite similar to Tartini’s notes used to prepare a trill from below, 
though this does not end on a trill.365
Geminiani explains three kinds of trill, the simple trill [plain shake or trillo 
semplice], the trill with nachschlag [turn’d shake or trillo compost] and short trill 
[holding the note or trattenuto sopra la nota]. The first is proper for quick move-
ments, the second may express either gaiety if it is quick and long or tender 
passions if it is short and followed by the main note held plain and soft, while 
the third lets the pure note be heard either before or after the trill for half the 
value of the whole note.
Pasquali’s holding the note (turn’d shake) is quite similar to Geminiani’s: a 
half of the note is trilled, while the other half is held; the same goes for the trill 
(shake), which lasts a half of the trilled note.366
Purcell, like Geminiani, describes the shake, the shake turn’d (with the 
added notes slower than the actual trill) and short trill (plain note & shake).367 
The latter differs from Geminiani’s because it is the upper auxiliary that is 
held half the value of the whole note, resulting in a grace similar to Couperin’s 
unprepared trill.368
Simpson’s trill (backfall shaked), employs an open shake on the superior 
appoggiatura (plain backfall). He describes it as rough and masculine, there-
fore more peculiar to the bass, though he also claims that it is fit to express life, 
courage or cheerfulness on the treble.369
Prelleur’s trill in singing starts more slowly than it ends,370 like Tartini’s trill 
on a cadenza (or final cadence).371 As for the German flute, his trills (shakes 
or cadences) are always prepared with a superior appoggiatura, even when it is 
not marked or written; there, he also describes a trill with nachschlag (double 
cadence). As for harpsichord, he presents the trill (shake), holding the note 
(plain note and shake) and the trill with nachschlag (shake turned).
362 Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 114; cf. Georg Falck, Idea boni cantoris (Nürnberg: 
Wolfgang Moritz Endter, 1688), 102. 
363 See entries “Trillo”, “Ribattuta”, “Cadence ou tremblement à la françoise”, and “Double cadence, 
ou tour de gosier”, in Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique.
364 See entry “Trilletto”, in Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique.
365 See entry “Ribattuta”, in Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique; cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper 
ben suonare il Violino, 11.
366 Pasquali, The Art of Fingering the Harpsichord, plate I.
367 Purcell, A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinnet, [9].
368 Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 74.
369 Simpson, The Division-Viol, 11–12.
370 Prelleur, “An Introduction to Singing”, in The Modern Musick-Master, 11.
371 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 11.
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Besides the normal trill (trill or trillo, sometimes quavering or roulade, and 
shake when reporting Lambert), Grassineau describes an Italian trill (tillo 
[sic.]) on one note, 372 like Brossard’s373 and Falck’s.374 He also defines a short 
trill [trilletta].375
Playford’s text (revised by Purcell) presents two kinds of trills used in Italy: 
the Italian trill (trillo, plain shake or trill) on one note with growing speed,376 
like Grassineau’s,377 Brossard’s378 and Falck’s,379 and a sort of trill with nach-
schlag [gruppo, double relish or grup]380 that starts on the main note instead of 
the upper auxiliary, ending like Couperin’s closed trill.381
Vibrato
Tartini’s vibrato is an oscillation determined by a vibration of the finger given 
by the wrist; it can be slow and equal [tardo, ma eguale], fast and equal [veloce, 
ma eguale] or increasingly fast [per gradi].382 The violinist says that it can be 
found in some voices but has its origin in sound (e.g. the natural vibrations of 
a bell or of a string): it cannot be used when imitating the human voice, for 
instance during a messa di voce.383 It makes a good effect on held notes of any 
melody.384 It is also useful on the last note of a cadence when it is long and held, 
because it derives from the nature of sound: the last stroke produces a vibration 
going on for some time.385 He also shows some examples of syncopated notes 
enriched with vibrato on one or two strings, explaining where the accent must 
fall.386 
Mozart’s description is quite similar to Tartini’s: he states that the vibrato 
[Tremulo or Tremulanten] comes from the natural oscillation of sound and that 
it is thus well suited to the last note.387 He describes the three kinds of speed 
and gives the same explanation and almost identical examples of syncopated 
372 Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary, 291.
373 See entry “Trillo”, in Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique.
374 Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 114; cf. Falck, Idea boni cantoris, 102.
375 Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary, 291.
376 Playford, An Introduction to the Skill of Musick, 39.
377 Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary, 291.
378 See entry “Trillo”, in Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique.
379 Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 114; cf. Falck, Idea boni cantoris, 102.
380 Playford, An Introduction to the Skill of Musick, 39.
381 Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 74.
382 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 15.
383 Ibid., 15–16.
384 Ibid., 16.
385 Ibid.
386 Ibid.
387 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 239; cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare 
il Violino, 16.
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notes enriched with vibrato on one or two strings.388 Mozart adds that it gives 
the impression of a continuous fever if it is heard too often389 and that a trem-
olo of increasing speed with a messa di voce can be used on the long note (tonic 
or dominant) before a cadenza.390
Agricola describes vibrato [Bebung auf einem und eben demselben Tone] in 
his chapter about trills,391 like Tartini’s.392 On strings, the fingertip must be on 
the string and oscillate without changing the sound.393 In singing, it has a good 
effect on long held notes, notably towards their ending; however, Agricola un-
derlines that not all voices are suited for a vibrato, as Tartini does.394
Marpurg too describes vibrato [Bebung].395 He explains that it is done with 
the fingertip on string instruments and with breath in singing and on wind in-
struments; as for keyboard instruments, it can be performed on few clavichords 
and on Hohlfeld’s Bogenflügel.396 Marpurg claims that the number of oscilla-
tions is usually specified in writing, while Tartini does not say so.397 
Baron’s vibrato [Bebung or Schwebung] on the lute is done through an os-
cillation of the left hand, whose thumb must be loose and free; otherwise, it 
would be a hindrance to this kind of movement.398 He also describes a wider 
vibrato [Mordant] that seems to get higher or lower than the actual vibrato 
because the string must be pulled.399
Mattheson specifies that a vibrato [Tremolo or Beben der Stimme] is ob-
tained with a gentle movement and moderation of breath in singing and with 
a fingertip on the lute, violin or clavichord.400 It consists of a light oscillation 
of the note, so it must not be confused with a trill, which has two clearly in-
terchanged sounds.401 He also mentions the relationship of this grace with the 
organ tremulant.402
388 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 239–242; cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben 
suonare il Violino, 15–16.
389 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 238–239.
390 Ibid., 241–242.
391 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 121–122.
392 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 10.
393 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 121.
394 Ibid.
395 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 46.
396 Ibid.
397 Ibid.
398 Baron, Historisch-theoretisch und practische Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten, 168–169.
399 Ibid.
400 Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 114.
401 Ibid.
402 Ibid.
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Vibrato can also be found in French texts. Villeneuve describes his vibrato 
[balancement] as a vacillating sound such as that of a bell after a single stroke.403 
Montéclairs vibrato [flatté], consisting of soft aspirations of the voice, has the 
same effect of a string shaken with the finger; he warns that this grace should 
not be used too often on long notes.404 Hotteterre describes a vibrato [flatte-
ment or tremblement mineur], which is a sort of digital vibrato; on the lower D, 
for which all the fingers are used, it is done by shaking the flute.405 Corrette’s 
vibrato [flattement] on the flute is quite similar to Hotteterre’s;406 he warns that 
this grace is not often used.407 Bérard and Blanchet recommend letting the 
voice ascend by 1/4 of tone and exhale in their interval [flatté or balance].408
Geminiani’s vibrato [tremolo or close-shake]; he advises to make it low 
and soft to express affliction and fear, to swell the sound and bring the bow 
nearer to the bridge to express majesty and dignity. On short notes, however, 
he claims that it only makes the sound agreeable, and thus advises to use it 
as often as possible. Simpson as well describes a vibrato [close-shake] which 
requires moving the finger softly, as close to the note as possible; it can be used 
where no other grace is concerned.409 Prelleur’s text on vibrato [softening of 
notes or lesser shake]410 is like Hotteterre’s.411
The tremolo is absent in Tartini’s Regole,412 but it is mentioned by other 
texts, though it is often described as a slower vibrato as not always treated 
as a clearly different ornament. Montéclair describes a tremolo [balancement] 
whose aspirations are more marked and slower than those of the vibrato 
[flatté];413 Loulié’s414 and Corrette’s tremolo [balancement], which is reminis-
cent of the organ tremulant, is soft and slow,415 like L’Affilard’s.416 The tremolo 
[tremblement] repeating a note in the same bow stroke is also mentioned by 
Rousseau, who claims that it is not used anymore in his time.417 Brossard as-
403 Villeneuve, Nouvelle méthode très courte et très facile, 39.
404 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 85.
405 Hotteterre, Principes de la flute traversière, 34.
406 Ibid.
407 Corrette, Méthode pour apprendre aisément à joüer de la flute traversière, 30.
408 Bérard, L’art du chant, 119–120, 132; Blanchet, L’art, ou Les principes philosophiques du chant, 116, 
126.
409 Simpson, The Division-Viol, 11.
410 Prelleur, “The Newest Method for the Learners on the German Flute”, in The Modern Musick-
Master, 9.
411 Hotteterre, Principes de la flute traversière, 34.
412 Cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 4–19.
413 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 85.
414 Loulié, Eléments ou Principes de musique mis dans un nouvel ordre, 73.
415 Corrette, Le parfait maitre à chanter, 50.
416 L’Affilard, Principes très-faciles pour bien apprendre la musique (2nd ed.), 26–27.
417 Rousseau, Dictionnaire de Musique, 523.
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sociates it to both strings and voice, giving the example of tremolo [trembleurs] 
in Lully’s Isis.418 In Germany, Mattheson cites Brossard to claim that a tremolo 
[Tremolo] can also be performed with the bow on the violin, by repeating the 
same note in a bow stroke.419 In English texts, both Simpson and Grassineau 
mention tremolo (respectively shake or tremble with the bow420 and tremolo, 
tremolante or tremente421 – probably following Brossard’s advice that tremolante 
and tremante were better than the word tremolo to define this grace).422
Turn
In Tartini’s Regole, the turn consists of three notes added before the written 
one, on which the force falls.423 It must be performed so fast that the notes 
cannot be clearly distinguished, but their effect makes the note lively, bold and 
full of spirit.424 Thus, this grace is more suonabile than cantabile – it may only 
be adapted to a cantabile allegro or andante needing some spirit in its expres-
sion.425 It can be both ascending and descending: its direction must be deduced 
from the preceding note; however, a descending turn makes a better effect than 
an ascending one, just as a descending appoggiatura is better.426 As it is a sort 
of accent, it can be used on crotchets or quavers followed by shorter notes as 
well as on all equal notes; it cannot be used on notes separated from the melody 
(anacruses), because they can never be accented.427 Though other European 
embellishments are quite similar as for speed, melodic direction or intervals, 
they are usually accented or their context of usage differs.
The greatest similarities are to be found in Mozart’s Violinschule: he de-
scribes a turn [Mordant mit drei Noten] identical to Tartini’s;428 he too shows 
both ascending and descending versions, claiming that the choice depends on 
the preceding note, though a descending turn, like a descending appoggiatura, 
makes a better effect.429 The effect is described in precisely the same way: falling 
under the category of mordents, it is an accent giving spirit to the note, whose 
sound is lost immediately to leave the sound of the written note free, and if it 
418 See entries “Tremolo”, and “Trembleurs”, in Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique.
419 Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 114.
420 Simpson, The Division-Viol, 10.
421 Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary, 289.
422 See entry “Tremolo”, in Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique. 
423 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 17.
424 Ibid.
425 Ibid.
426 Ibid., 18.
427 Ibid.
428 Cf. Ibid., 17–18.
429 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 243–244. Cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben 
suonare il Violino, 17–18.
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is not very fast, it is not correct.430 However, Mozart specifies that it must be 
intelligible,431 while Tartini clearly states that the tone of each note must not 
be as clear as their overall effect.432 The other difference is that Mozart shows 
a case of anacrusis with a turn, though he claims that this rarely happens.433
Loehlein’s turn [Doppelschlag] is similar to Tartini’s as for melodic direction. 
It is quite fast (demisemiquavers on a crotchet) and the written note is longer, 
but the accent falls on the grace instead of the main note.434 
The same goes for Bach’s turn [Doppleschlag].435 It must always be fast436 and 
it is used to give brilliance to the note.437 As this grace can never be slow, there 
are three kinds of turn: in fast tempo all notes are short, in measured tempo the 
fourth (the real note) is longer, in slow tempo two are short, the third is a little 
longer and the fourth even longer.438 According to Bach, the opposite of a turn 
is a double ascending appoggiatura [Schleifer von dreyen Nötgen].439
Agricola’s turn [einfacher Doppelschlag] too might seem quite similar to Tar-
tini’s as for melodic direction, but the accent falls on the first note. Indeed, the 
author describes it as a note preceded by a short appoggiatura and followed by 
a nachschlag; this implies that the first and second note must be quick, while 
those forming the nachschlag can be slower or faster440 – resulting in Bach’s 
classification.441 Agricola’s turn can also be used after the note, if it is long 
enough.442 
According to Marpurg, the ascending or descending turn [Doppelschlag] in 
the Spielmanieren corresponds to an ascending or descending turn [Halbzirkel] 
in the Setzmenieren.443 He only shows the second with equal notes (Bach’s first 
case),444 while he foresees Bach’s and Agricola’s first and third kinds for the 
430 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 244; cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare 
il Violino, 17–18.
431 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 244.
432 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 17.
433 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 243; cf. Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare 
il Violino, 18.
434 Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 15.
435 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 75 (cf. Tab V Fig L).
436 Ibid., 77.
437 Ibid., 76.
438 Ibid., 75 (cf. Tab V Fig L).
439 Ibid., 94.
440 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 114–115.
441 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 115; cf. Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 
Tab V Fig L.
442 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 118–119.
443 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 52.
444 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 42; cf. Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu 
spielen, Tab V Fig L.
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other.445 He also states that the descending turn is used more often than the 
ascending one.446
Unlike Tartini’s and Mozart’s,447 the German turn is accented and can 
be preceded by additions. Bach mentions the possibility of adding it on an 
appoggiatura,448 shows a trilled turn [prallender Doppelschlag] whose first two 
notes are repeated twice,449 a darted turn [geschnellter Doppelschlag] with a note 
added at the beginning450 and a turn from below [Doppelschlag von unten] with 
two rapid ascending notes added at the beginning.451 Agricola presents the 
trilled turn452 and Bach’s darted turn453 and mentions the possibility of add-
ing an appoggiatura before the turn.454 Loehlein shows two kinds of increased 
turns [vermehrter Doppelschlag], with one (like Bach’s darted turn) or two (like 
Bach’s turn from below, though here the last notes that are faster, not the first) 
notes added at the beginning.455 
Montéclair’s turn [tour de gosier] descends; it has a real note held [note 
d’appui] followed by the three fast notes of the grace in one breath, resting on 
the real note; the author also requires a rapid trill on the second note of the 
embellishment.456 It seems similar to Villeneuve’s turn [double cadence], which 
is made of three descending notes slurred so quickly that they are hardly heard, 
as if sliding them;457 seemingly, it is also quite similar to L’Affilard’s turn [dou-
ble cadence coupée].458 All these graces, however, are inserted into a long note or 
at any rate require that the main note be played both before and after.
A grace whose melodic direction is similar to Tartini’s turn is also found in 
Brossard’s Dictionnaire, who exemplifies his turn [circolo mezzo but also groppo 
or gruppo]459 as a quadruplet, both ascending and descending.460 
445 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 53, Tab. IV; cf. Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier 
zu spielen, Tab V Fig L; Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 121–122.
446 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 53, Tab. IV.
447 Cf. Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 243–244; Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben 
suonare il Violino, 17–18.
448 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 76.
449 Ibid., 81.
450 Ibid., 84–85.
451 Ibid., 86.
452 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 119.
453 Ibid., 121. 
454 Ibid., 120.
455 Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 15.
456 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 85–86.
457 Villeneuve, Nouvelle méthode très courte et très facile, 38.
458 L’Affilard, Principes très-faciles pour bien apprendre la musique (2nd ed.), 26–27.
459 Brossard’s tour de gosier refers to ribattuta di gola or double cadence.
460 See entries “Circolo mezzo”, and “Groppo”, in Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique. 
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The French turn can also be related to the trill, and mainly to the German 
trill with nachschlag. Corrette’s turn [tour de gozier] is used to end a trill, and it is 
composed of the last shake and of the nachschlag.461 Loulié’s turn [tour de gosier] 
is explained as a trill with the first note of the last shake lowered by a third; thus, 
it can be either shorter or longer (with more or less shakes), just like a trill.462 
The only grace described in English texts that seems quite similar to Tar-
tini’s descending turn as for melodic direction is Pasquali’s turn, which is none-
theless accented and slower, taking the value of about half of the note.463 
Both Purcell464 and Grassineau (here reporting Lambert)465 show turns 
that might seem similar to Tartini’s, but there are substantial differences mak-
ing them more similar to the French above-mentioned embellishments. They 
both have five notes, as the main note is heard both at the beginning and at the 
end, and they differ in value. All the notes have the same value in Grassineau’s 
example;466 in Purcell’s, the main note is held longer than the three added 
notes, both at the beginning and at the end,467 though not as long as in Mon-
téclair’s example468 – the same goes for Prelleur’s turn on the harpsichord.469 
Grassineau also illustrates an ascending or descending turn [circolo mezzo or 
group], formed of a quadruplet470 identical to Brossard’s.471
Mordent
According to Tartini, a mordent472 is a note returning to itself beaten with 
its lower auxiliary.473 It can consist of two, four or six notes depending on the 
speed and it is used in the same way as a turn.474 It is suitable for music that is 
joyful, suonabile, and full of spirit, but it cannot be used in grave or melancholic 
pieces; it makes a good effect when the expression is somewhere in the middle, 
if it is used at the right moment.475
461 Corrette, Le parfait maitre à chanter, 49.
462 Loulié, Eléments ou Principes de musique mis dans un nouvel ordre, 73–74.
463 Pasquali, The Art of Fingering the Harpsichord, plate I.
464 Purcell, A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinnet, [9].
465 Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary, 102.
466 Ibid.
467 Purcell, A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinnet, [9].
468 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 86.
469 Prelleur, “The Harpsichord Illustrated and Improv’d”, in The Modern Musick-Master, 5.
470 Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary, 29, 90.
471 See entries “Circolo mezzo”, and “Groppo”, in Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique. 
472 He calls it simple mordent, as opposed to the compound mordent, which is here referred to as 
a turn; they are related because they have the same function, though with different structures 
(Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 17–19).
473 Ibid., 18–19.
474 Ibid., 19.
475 Ibid.
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Tosi mentions a mordent [trillo mordente] as the eight and fastest kind of 
trill: it is taught more by nature than by art, it must cease immediately after it 
starts and good singers rarely use an appoggiatura without it.476 Though Tartini 
too claims that the good rendition of a short appoggiatura foresees a mordent, 
a long one is naturally followed by a trill.477 However, according to Agricola, 
the Italians call mordent [mordente] not only the French mordent [pincé], but 
also the short trill as well as passing appoggiaturas in those descending notes 
that are too short for a short trill478 – this is why, in his opinion, Tosi’s text on 
mordents is not quite clear.479
Mozart notably defines a mordent [Mordant or Mordente] as a number of 
notes that are really fast, tied to the main note, whose sound ceases immedi-
ately so that the real note is clearly heard.480 The first kind of these mordents, 
in Mozart’s explanation, comes from the note itself:481 it is just like Tartini’s 
simple mordent with two or four notes.482 Mozart also describes another em-
bellishment (which he calls Batement or Zusammenschlag), which originates in 
the lower semitone483 and is thus quite different.
Bach’s mordent [Mordent] can be both short (two notes) and long (more 
than two notes) depending on both the value of the note and the tempo.484 
According to him, the mordent holds notes together (e.g. on rising seconds, 
with or without appoggiatura),485 fills them (e.g. on long notes)486 and makes 
them brilliant (e.g. on notes by leap).487 Bach also describes a short upper 
mordent [Schneller] with the upper auxiliary, it is very fast, it gives brilliance 
to short notes and fills them;488 no trace of such an upper mordent can be 
found in the Regole. Bach also describes a case in which the mordent can be 
slow without being wrong, and he claims that singers perform it usually at 
the beginning or before a pause or fermata489 – Marpurg and Agricola report 
this too. 490
476 Tosi, Opinioni de’ cantori antichi, e moderni, 27–28.
477 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 5, 8.
478 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 103–104.
479 Ibid., 104.
480 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 242.
481 Ibid.
482 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 18–19.
483 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 245.
484 Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, 86–87.
485 Ibid., 87.
486 Ibid., 88.
487 Ibid.
488 Ibid., 97–98.
489 Ibid., 90.
490 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 59; Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 114.
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Marpurg defines the mordent [Mordent] as the opposite of a trill, though 
with not as many repetitions:491 his short has two added notes and his long 
mordent has four.492 Like Tartini’s, his mordent is very fast;493 however, he also 
reports Bach’s short upper mordent.494
In his additions to Tosi’s rules,495 Agricola claims that the mordent [Mor-
dent] has to be performed at the highest possible speed496 – just like Tarti-
ni.497 According to him, it is generally built with a semitone even when the 
tonality would need a whole tone, in order to give more strength to it498 – 
something that is quite characteristic. In his examples, he shows both shorter 
and longer mordents, claiming that the choice depends on the value of the 
note.499 According to Agricola, the mordent preceded by an appoggiatura 
is the opposite of a short trill, as it is from below: both graces start with an 
appoggiatura, but the short trill needs a descending one, while the mordent 
needs an ascending one.500 
This grace is generally associated to instrumental renditions rather than 
voice, as it is in Tartini’s thought. However, according to Mattheson, the mor-
dent [Mordant] can be performed both with instruments and voice; while 
there are many ways of playing it on instruments, there is only one for singers: 
with two notes added and in such a rapid way that the three sounds are almost 
heard as one.501 He describes its effect somewhat differently from Tartini, as 
a hesitation, detainment or gentle push.502 Moreover, Mattheson, like Bach, 
thinks that a mordent can tie sounds, while the violinist deems it more suona-
bile than cantabile.
Loehlein’s examples of short and long mordent [kurzer and langer Mordent] 
are preceded by an appoggiatura,503 resulting in graces that are quite similar to 
Couperin’s simple and double appoggiaturas504 (though Loehlein’s long mor-
dent has six notes, two more than Couperin’s double appoggiatura). 
491 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 58.
492 Ibid., Tab. V.
493 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 17–19.
494 He adds that many clavierists call Mordent a Schneller, which in his opinion is not only wrong, but 
also laughable.
495 Tosi, Opinioni de’ cantori antichi, e moderni, 27–28.
496 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 114.
497 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 17–19.
498 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 114.
499 Ibid., 103–104.
500 Ibid., 103.
501 Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, 119.
502 Ibid.
503 Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 15.
504 Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 74.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
159
In an example, Quantz shows a grace that is quite similar to Loehlein’s 
mordent, as the first note must be held as long as the following note requires.505 
As opposed to appoggiatura, which contributes to the softening and sadness 
of music, the mordent is associated to the short trill and turn expressing en-
couragement and joy;506 such additions are necessary to play brilliantly appog-
giaturas in the French style.507 
In the French texts considered, the mordent is usually called pincé. Just 
like Tartini, French musicians start beating the mordent from the real note; 
though the number of beats and thus the length sometimes differs, no sub-
stantial differences can be found. Couperin’s simple mordent [pincé simple] 
has two notes while his double mordent [pincé double] has six; he explains that 
the length of the mordent or trill (i.e. the number of shakes) is determined 
by the value of the note.508 Couperin also adds a long mordent [pincé continu] 
lasting the whole value of the note and sharp or flat mordents [pincés diésés 
and bémolisés] with an inferior note unrelated to the tonality,509 which Tartini 
does not mention.510 As for Rousseau, he reminds the reader that the mor-
dent has to begin and end with the real note interchanged with the inferior 
auxiliary and describes it as the opposite of a trill,511 just like Hotteterre in his 
method for the musette512 and Marpurg and Agricola in Germany513 – quite 
differently from Tartini. Montéclair, like Villeneuve,514 shows only mordents 
[pincé] with two added notes and, like Tartini, he specifies that it must be 
done before a strong note.515 Saint-Lambert claims that de Chambonnière 
and Le Bègue know only a mordent with two added notes; D’Anglebert uses 
two (with two or four notes), specifying that the choice of using a longer or 
shorter mordent is determined by the value of the note,516 like Couperin and 
Agricola.517 Loulié’s mordent [martellement] can be simple, double or triple 
depending on the number of notes (two, four or six respectively – thus one, 
two or three shakes).518 
505 Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, Tab. XVI Fig. 25 b; cf. Loehlein, 
Clavier-Schule, 15.
506 Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, 81.
507 Ibid., 80.
508 Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 75.
509 Ibid.
510 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 18–19.
511 Rousseau, Dictionnaire de Musique, 378.
512 Hotteterre, Méthode pour la musette, 59.
513 Marpurg, Anleitung zum Clavierspielen, 58; Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 103.
514 Villeneuve, Nouvelle méthode très courte et très facile, 38–39.
515 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 84.
516 Saint-Lambert, Les principes du clavecin, 48–49.
517 Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 74; Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 103–104.
518 Loulié, Eléments ou Principes de musique mis dans un nouvel ordre, 72.
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In his singing method, Corrette’s mordent [pincé or martellement] has only 
two notes; he claims that it can be used on long notes and clarifies that a mor-
dent on the tonic has to be done with the leading tone.519 In his flute method, 
however, Corrette’s mordent [battement] can be either simple (with one shake) 
or double (with more shakes), with a tone or a semitone depending on the 
tonality of the piece.520 Corrette also presents two kinds of mordents [martelle-
ments]: the first, which is faster than a trill, begins with the lower auxiliary and 
is composed of a double appoggiatura and a double shake; the second is the 
Italian mordent [à la manière Italienne], which consists of an appoggiatura as 
long as the whole real note followed by a mordent on the real note.521 Mahaut 
too presents mordents [martellements], which he classifies as simple, double 
and triple depending on the number of shakes.522 This is quite different from 
Tartini’s mordent, which never starts from the auxiliary note;523 however, it is 
similar to Mozart’s Batement in this respect.524
In English texts, Tartini’s simple mordent is a beat. Geminiani’s mordent 
[beat or mordente] is always repeated and seems to be much longer than Tar-
tini’s: in his general examples, he uses 10 or 14 added notes, while in the ex-
amples in which different ornaments are combined he uses 4 or 6, starting with 
the real note, whether held or short. 
The vast majority of the English musicians, however, do not start from a 
tone returning to itself, but from an inferior added note going to the main note. 
Pasquali’s mordent is repeated and, as he starts from the inferior auxiliary, he 
adds an odd number of notes (five in the example).525 Purcell uses three notes, 
the first of which is held while the following are really short,526 which makes 
this grace look somehow similar to a French inferior appoggiatura with a mor-
dent. Grassineau’s mordent (from Lambert) has three added notes as well but 
they are short.527 Pearson does not give clear indications about repetitions; as 
for viols, its beat starts from the half note below,528 while for other instruments 
from either the note or half note below.529 In his harpsichord method, Prelleur 
shows a quadruplet.530 Simpson’s mordent [shaked beat]531 has the same nature 
519 Corrette, Le parfait maitre à chanter, 49.
520 Corrette, Méthode pour apprendre aisément à joüer de la flute traversière, 32.
521 Ibid., 34–35.
522 Mahaut, Nouvelle méthode pour Aprendre en peu de tems à Joüer de la Flute Traversière, 22.
523 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 18–19.
524 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 245.
525 Pasquali, The Art of Fingering the Harpsichord, plate I.
526 Purcell, A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinnet, [9].
527 Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary, 102.
528 Pearson, The Compleat Musick-Master, 27.
529 Ibid., 41, 66.
530 Prelleur, “The Harpsichord Illustrated and Improv’d”, in The Modern Musick-Master, 4.
531 Thus a shaken ascending appoggiatura.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
161
of an ascending appoggiatura and both generally involve a semitone; the only 
difference is a short shake of the finger before it is placed: he starts from the 
inferior auxiliary and shows eight notes in his example.532 Like the trill, it is 
rough and masculine, therefore more proper for the bass, though it is also fit to 
express life, courage or cheerfulness on the treble. 
Conclusion
The present research is aimed to give an overview of the European musi-
cal context of Tartini’s embellishments. As this topic is extremely wide, it 
is beyond the scope and aim of this paper to give in-depth analyses of each 
writer’s views in relationship to Tartini. It will be possible to deepen and 
widen the research by adding methods and treatises by other authors and by 
analyzing more deeply the indications and examples displayed in the texts. 
Moreover, it would be interesting to extend the comparison with Piranese’s 
context to other aspects of his thought, and most of all to his theoretical 
system. This would allow gaining a precise and wide knowledge of the inter-
relationships between Tartini’s overall musical and intellectual activity and 
its European context. 
By underlining similarities and differences in the instructions for embel-
lishments in treatises and methods written in Europe during Tartini’s lifetime, 
the present analysis underlines how many different points of view could coexist 
throughout the continent during the first half of the eighteenth century. 
This rich and fruitful panorama was characterized by a certain level of cos-
mopolitanism: as texts, masters, students and letters circulated, more or less 
direct contacts arose among schools – as testified by Tartini’s epistolary as well 
as some more or less direct references to other musicians, styles and/or Euro-
pean countries in the texts. It is nonetheless clear that each musician’s style was 
deeply personal and totally unstandardized. 
Notwithstanding this diversity – or maybe owing to it – these texts con-
stitute a whole organic system testifying to the Zeitgeist of early-eighteenth-
century Europe.
532 Simpson, The Division-Viol, 11–12.
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162
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SUMMARY
This paper is focused on the practice of embellishing melodies during the lifetime of Giu-
seppe Tartini (1692–1770) and its aim is to situate the thought of the Piranese violinist, 
music teacher and theoretician into a wider European context. This paper thus describes 
similarities and differences in the instructions for embellishments given by Giuseppe Tartini 
and other coeval musicians.
The work on which this analysis is based is a handwritten version of Tartini’s rules for 
embellishments, that of the violinist’s pupil Giovanni Francesco Nicolai. This manuscript, 
titled Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino [Rules to Learn How to Play the Violin 
Well], is preserved at the Library of the Conservatorio di Musica “B. Marcello” in Venice. In the 
present analysis, this text has been compared with treatises and methods in Italian, German, 
French and English published throughout Europe during Giuseppe Tartini’s lifetime. Ove-
rall, these texts represent a wide multilingual corpus from the Western area of the continent.
This paper is solely focused on the embellishments described by the Piranese violinist, namely 
appoggiatura, trill, turn and mordent. Thus, it compares Tartini’s points of view and those of 
the selected coeval musicians on the rendition of these different graces. In order to organically 
analyze such a wide corpus, the approach of Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) has been used.
Firstly, the chapters about embellishments of the selected European texts have been 
isolated; secondly, these relevant sections have been transcribed with the online software 
Transkribus in order to make it possible for the software Atlas.ti24 to read the resulting 
corpus. The formation of the main categories – which correspond to appoggiatura, trillo 
(trill), tremolo and mordente (mordent) in Tartini’s terminology – and subsequent coding 
of the data has taken place. The following creation of subcategories has been based on the 
characteristics attributed to the embellishments by the various authors as for their structure, 
usage and purpose. Finally, the category-based analysis has been drawn from the coded data.
For increased clarity, the present paper also includes a table of the main embellishments 
in the appendix. The graces are displayed as shown by several authors, which allows to tho-
roughly understand the subtle differences among the various authors’ opinions.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
165
POVZETEK
Okraševanje v času Giuseppeja Tartinija
Članek se osredotoča na prakso okraševanja melodij v času delovanja Giuseppeja Tartinija 
(1692–1770). Njegov cilj je umestitev stališč piranskega violinista, glasbenega učitelja in 
teoretika v širši evropski kontekst. Članek zato opisuje podobnosti in razlike v navodilih za 
okraševanje, ki so jih oblikovali Giuseppe Tartini in drugi sodobni glasbeniki.
Analiza temelji na različici Tartinijevih pravil za okraševanje, ki jo je napisal violinistov 
učenec Giovanni Francesco Nicolai . Rokopis z naslovom Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare 
il Violino [Pravila za dosego dobrega igranja violine] hrani knjižnica Konservatorija za glasbo 
»B. Marcello« v Benetkah. V analizi je bilo besedilo primerjano z razpravami in učbeniki v 
italijanščini, nemščini, francoščini in angleščini, objavljenimi v različnih evropskih deželah v 
času življenja Giuseppeja Tartinija. Celota uporabljenih besedil predstavlja širok večjezični 
korpus z zahodnega dela celine.
Članek se osredotoča izključno na okraske, ki jih je opisal piranski violinist, in sicer na 
predložek, trilček, dvoložek in mordent. Primerja Tartinijeva navodila za izvedbo teh okraskov 
z navodili izbranih sodobnikov. Za analizo tako širokega korpusa je bil uporabljen pristop 
kvalitativne analize vsebine (QCA).
Poglavja o okraskih v izbranih evropskih besedilih so bila najprej izolirana. Ustrezni odseki 
so bili nato prepisani s spletno programsko opremo Transkribus, da je programska oprema 
Atlas.ti24 lahko prebrala nastali korpus. Izvedeno je bilo oblikovanje glavnih kategorij – ki 
v Tartinijevi terminologiji ustrezajo predložku [appoggiatura], trilčku [trillo], tremolu [tre-
molo] in mordentu [mordente] – ter naknadno kodiranje podatkov. Nadaljnje oblikovanje 
podkategorij je temeljilo na značilnostih, ki jih različni avtorji pripisujejo okraskom glede 
njihove strukture, uporabe in namena. Končno je bila iz kodiranih podatkov izvedena analiza 
na podlagi kategorij.
Za večjo jasnost je članku dodana tudi tabela glavnih okraskov. Prikazani so tako, kot jih 
predstavlja več avtorjev, kar omogoča temeljito razumevanje subtilnih razlik med njihovimi 
mnenji.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CAMILLA RUBAGOTTI (rubagotticamilla@gmail.com) has a master’s degree in trans-
lation at the University of Trieste and another in guitar at the Conservatory of Trieste. As a 
translator, she has published for Leduc Editions Musicales. She is currently a PhD student 
at the University of Ljubljana.
O AVTORICI
CAMILLA RUBAGOTTI (rubagotticamilla@gmail.com) je magistrirala iz prevajanja 
na Univerzi v Trstu in iz kitare na Konservatoriju v Trstu. Kot prevajalka je objavljala pri 
založbi Leduc Editions Musicales. Trenutno je doktorska študentka na Univerzi v Ljubljani.
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166
Appendix: Table of the Main Embellishments
APPOGGIATURA
Tartini Simple descending 
appoggiaturas 
[appoggiatura semplice 
discendente] (writing 
and rendition)533
Tartini Short passing 
appoggiaturas 
[appoggiatura breve di 
passaggio] (writing and 
rendition)534
Tartini Simple/double 
descending 
appoggiatura 
[appoggiatura semplice/
composta ascendente]535
Tartini Another kind of 
double ascending 
appoggiatura, which 
ascends and then 
descends [appoggiatura 
ascendente composta 
in altro modo, cioè che 
cominci ascendendo, e 
f inisca discendendo]536
Tartini Ascending and 
descending 
appoggiaturas with 
wider intervals 
[appoggiatura di 
salto] (writing and 
rendition)537
533 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 4.
534 Ibid., 7.
535 Ibid., 9.
536 Ibid.
537 Ibid.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
167
Couperin Simple appoggiatura 
[port de voix simple] 
(writing and 
rendition)538
Couperin Double appoggiatura 
[port de voix double] 
(writing and 
rendition)539
Lohlein Long and short double 
appoggiatura [kurzer/
langer Anschlag] 540
Loulié Appoggiatura [port 
de voix] (writing and 
rendition)541
Loulié Descending 
appoggiatura 
[coulé] (writing and 
rendition)542
538 Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 74–75.
539 Ibid.
540 Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 15.
541 Loulié, Eléments ou Principes de musique mis dans un nouvel ordre, 69.
542 Ibid., 68.
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Montéclair Descending 
appoggiatura [coulé]543
Montéclair Appoggiatura [port de 
voix]544
Bach Appoggiatura from 
above or below 
[Vorschlag]545
Bach Double ascending 
appoggiatura 
[Schleifer]546
Bach Dotted double 
ascending appoggiatura 
[Schleifer mit dem 
Punkte]547
Bach Double appoggiatura 
[Anschlag]548
543 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 78.
544 Ibid., 79.
545 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, “Exempel”, in Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, vol. 1 
(2nd ed.) (Berlin: G. L. Winter, 1759), 45–100, Tab III.
546 Ibid., Tab VI.
547 Ibid.
548 Ibid.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
169
Bach Dotted double 
appoggiatura 
[punctierter Anschlag]549
Pasquali Ascending/descending 
appoggiatura 
[appogiatura]550
Purcell Ascending 
appoggiatura [fore 
fall]551
Purcell Descending 
appoggiatura [back 
fall]552
Purcell Double appoggiatura 
[slur]553
Mozart Ascending 
appoggiatura 
[aufsteigender 
Vorschlag] (writing and 
rendition)554
549 Ibid.
550 Pasquali, The Art of Fingering the Harpsichord, plate I.
551 Purcell, A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinnet, [9].
552 Ibid.
553 Ibid.
554 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 201.
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Mozart Passing appoggiaturas 
[durchgehender 
Vorschlag]555
 
Mozart Zwischenschlag556  
Agricola Passing appoggiaturas 
[Unveränderliche 
Vorschläge] (writing and 
rendition)557
  
TRILLS 
Tartini Trill [trillo]558
Tartini Trill prepared from 
above [parecchiato 
di sopra] with 
a descending 
appoggiatura559
555 Ibid., 206.
556 Ibid., 207–208.
557 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 68.
558 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 10.
559 Ibid., 11.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
171
Tartini Trill prepared from 
below [parecchiato 
di sotto] with notes 
resembling to the 
beginning of a trill560
Tartini First kind of final trill 
[primo modo di trillo 
f inale] (writing and 
rendition)561
Tartini Second kind of final 
trill [secondo modo di 
trillo f inale] (writing 
and rendition)562
Tartini Chain of trills 
[andamento di trilli]563
Couperin Prepared and tied trill 
[tremblement appuyé et 
lié]564
Couperin Prepared but not tied 
[tremblement lié sans 
etre appuyé] (writing 
and rendition)565
Couperin Open trill [tremblement 
ouvert]566
Couperin Closed trill 
[tremblement fermé]567
560 Ibid.
561 Ibid.
562 Ibid.
563 Ibid., 12.
564 Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 74–75.
565 Ibid.
566 Ibid.
567 Ibid.
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Couperin Detached trill 
[tremblement 
détaché] (writing and 
rendition)568
Couperin Long trill [tremblement 
continu]569
Bach Trill with Nachschlag 
[Triller mit dem 
Nachschlag]570
Bach Trill from above 
[Triller von oben]571
Loehlein Trill from below [Trillo 
von unten herauf]572
Bach Normal trill 
[ordentlicher Triller]573
568 Ibid.
569 Ibid.
570 Bach, “Exempel,” Tab iV.
571 Ibid.
572 Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 15.
573 Bach, “Exempel,” Tab iV.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
173
Loehlein Short trill [Pralltriller/
Abzug]574
Geminiani Holding the note 
[trattenuto sopra la 
nota]575
Loulié Simple, double, triple 
trill [tremblement 
simple/double/triple]576
Loulié Trill prepared with 
an appoggiatura 
[tremblement appuyé]577
Montéclair Prepared trill 
[tremblement appuyé]578
Montéclair False trill [tremblement 
feint]579
Pasquali Trill [shake] (writing 
and rendition)580
574 Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 15.
575 Geminiani, The Art of Playing on the Violin, 26.
576 Loulié, Eléments ou Principes de musique mis dans un nouvel ordre, 70.
577 Ibid.
578 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 83.
579 Ibid.
580 Pasquali, The Art of Fingering the Harpsichord, plate I.
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Pasquali Trill with Nachschlag 
[turn’d shake]581
Corrette Trill with Nachschlag 
[double cadence]582
Corrette Trill with anticipation 
[cadence fermée]583
Corrette Italian trill [cadence 
Italienne]584
 
Mozart Double trill 
[Doppeltriller]585
Mozart Zurückschlag/
Ribattuta586
Agricola Short trill [halbe Triller 
/ Pralltriller] (writing 
and rendition)587
Agricola Trill preceded by a 
ribattuta588
581 Ibid.
582 Corrette, Le parfait maitre à chanter, 49.
583 Ibid. 
584 Ibid.
585 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 235.
586 Ibid., 246.
587 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 99.
588 Ibid., 112.
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
175
TURN
Tartini Turn [mordente 
composto]589
Mozart Turn [Mordant mit drei 
Noten]590
Couperin Turn [doublé]591
Loehlein Turn [Doppelschlag]592
Montéclair Turn [tour de gosier]593
Loulié Turn [tour de gozier]594
Bach Turn [Doppelschlag] 
(writing and rendition 
in different tempo)595
589 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 17.
590 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 242.
591 Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 74–75.
592 Loehlein, Clavier-Schule, 15.
593 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 86.
594 Loulié, Eléments ou Principes de musique mis dans un nouvel ordre, 74.
595 Bach, “Exempel”, Tab V.
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Bach Trilled turn [prallender 
Doppelschlag]596
Bach Darted turn 
[geschnellter 
Doppelschlag]597
Bach Turn from below 
[Doppelschlag von 
unten]598
Bach Double ascending 
appoggiatura opposite 
of a turn [Schleifer von 
dreyen Nötgen]599
Pasquali Turn (writing and 
rendition)600
Purcell Turn601
596 Ibid.
597 Ibid.
598 Ibid.
599 Ibid., Tab VI.
600 Pasquali, The Art of Fingering the Harpsichord, plate I.
601 Purcell, A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinnet, [9].
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
177
MORDENT
Tartini Simple mordent 
[mordente semplice]602
Mozart Mordent [(Mordent aus 
der Hauptnote selbst]603
Couperin Simple mordent [pincé 
simple] (writing and 
rendition)604
Couperin Double mordent [pincé 
double]605
Couperin Long mordent [pincé 
continu]606
Couperin Sharp or flat mordent 
[pincé diésé et 
bémolisé]607
602 Tartini, Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonare il Violino, 19.
603 Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 242.
604 Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 74–75.
605 Ibid.
606 Ibid.
607 Ibid.
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Geminiani Mordent [beat/
mordente]608
Montéclair Mordent [pincé]609
Loulié Simple, double, triple 
mordent [martellement 
simple, double, triple]610
Bach Mordent [Mordent]611
Bach Upper mordent 
[Schneller]612
Pasquali Mordent [beat] 
(writing and 
rendition)613
Purcell Mordent [beat] 
(writing and 
rendition)614
608 Geminiani, The Art of Playing on the Violin, 26.
609 Montéclair, Principes de musique, 84.
610 Loulié, Eléments ou Principes de musique mis dans un nouvel ordre, 72.
611 Bach, “Exempel”, Tab V.
612 Ibid., Tab VI.
613 Pasquali, The Art of Fingering the Harpsichord, plate I.
614 Purcell, A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinnet, [9].
Camilla Rubagotti: The Practice of Embellishments During Giuseppe Tartini’s Lifetime
179
Corrette Mordent 
[martellement/
pincé] (writing and 
rendition)615
Agricola Mordent (writing and 
rendition)616
615 Corrette, Le parfait maitre à chanter, 49.
616 Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst, 103.