thinking about ornamentation

[anacrusis]

For ATCL, I played a Corelli violin sonata, opV no3, from an edition which included embellishments of the slow movements from a source contemporary to Corelli - they are florid and complex, and I wondered how on earth one starts to develop one's own style to include freely improvised ornamentation. Anyone got any ideas?

So far, I've been given a basic starting point - you can make rhythmic changes - inegale and dotted rhythms, or repeating the printed notes once each: harmonic embellishments, using the harmony indicated by the bass line to develop arpeggiated decoration : and melodic changes, perhaps filling in the gaps, turning a broken chord into a scale, for instance.

[jod]

I'm in the less is more camp. This is following listening to a very interesting radio interview with James Bowman in 1992. Of course I've looked at my CPE Bach and Quantz, but Bowman was very pursuasive. Although as as singer looking into the nature of the Soprano who originally perfomed the role can be insightful. I doubt Cuzzoni was a shrinking violet!

[anacrusis]

I have heard interpretations of Handel's recorder sonatas which have left me a bit as the ornamentation threatened to swallow the underlying musical text hook, line and sinker...(Pamela Thorby, sorry if she's anyone's fave recorder player).

Singers who can manage baroque ornamentation have my particular respect, I have to say - it seems to require a degree of vocal control not really found in more recent music, as far as I can tell.

[jod]

Of course you've never heard me, but I take that as a compliment. The only more recent music requiring that level of control is the coloratura repertoire. Interesting that given my repertoire also includes The Bell Song from Lakme and Una Voce poco fa from The Barber of Seville.

Trilling is easy once mastered, its controlled fill, appoggiaturas and other bits that require the skill. You need a voice with tremendous flexibility, yet tremendous support and need to make it sound spontaneous and effortless.

It's probabally the aspect of singing I enjoy the most now I have learnt it.