Appoggiatura
an odd note that occurs during a strong beat of the measure and resolves in a later period
An appoggiatura ( ə-POJ-ə-TURE-ə, Italian: [appoddʒaˈtuːra]; German: Vorschlag or Vorhalt; French: port de voix) is a musical ornament that consists of an added non-chord note in a melody that is resolved to the regular note of the chord. By putting the non-chord tone on a strong beat, (typically the first or third beats of the measure, in 44 time) this accents the appoggiatura note, which also delays the appearance of the principal, expected chord note. The added non-chord note, or auxiliary note, is typically one degree higher or lower than the principal note, and may be chromatically altered. An appoggiatura may be added to a melody in a vocal song or in an instrumental work.
The term comes from the Italian verb appoggiare, "to lean upon". The appoggiatura is often used to express emotional "yearning". It is also called a long appoggiatura to distinguish it from the short appoggiatura, the acciaccatura. An ascending appoggiatura was previously known as a forefall, while a descending appoggiatura was known as a backfall.
Notation
The appoggiatura is often written as a grace note prefixed to a principal note and printed in small character, usually without the oblique stroke:
This may be executed as follows:
The same notation can be used for other interpretations of the grace note; therefore determining that an appoggiatura is intended depends on performance practice.
An appoggiatura may also be notated precisely as it should be performed, with full-size notes, to reduce ambiguity.
“Appoggiatura” enters the record as an odd note that occurs during a strong beat of the measure and resolves in a later period. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Appoggiatura, note and occurs can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Appoggiatura” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.