Research Report: Ornamentation and French Baroque Choral Music

Anthony R Reeves
Hilary Apfelstadt[lang ]apfelstadt.1[commat]osu.edu[rang ] (EDITOR)

The French Baroque composers generated a wealth of choral music, versatile in length, form, required performance forces, and subject matter. Unfortunately, although it would provide variety and new challenges for our singers, this corpus of literature is often passed over or ignored altogether by today's choral conductors. When questioned about this, many conductors -- while readily acknowledging the beauty and musical worth of the literature -- admit to concerns about the difficulties they fear in teaching the music to their singers. The concern most often voiced is about the agréments, or ornaments, that are an innate element of French Baroque style. This article relates basic information about agréments, lists and illustrates the most common ones, and offers some basic guidelines for teaching singers to perform them.

Agréments, according to The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, are "Ornaments introduced in French music of the seventeenth century and soon widely used throughout Europe." ¹ This definition intimates a critical aspect of the agrément, which is idiosyncratically French. French ornaments, while similar to ornaments used throughout Europe, were unique in their form, use, and feeling.

During the Baroque era regarding ornamentation, composers and performers began to share more equally in the creation of music than they had in previous eras, when performers were expected to sing what composers wrote without altering the music. The rising popularity and usage of ornamentation provides a clear example of the increased sharing of responsibility. Baroque composers in different regions indicated ornaments to different degrees and with varying symbols. Italian composers rarely used symbols; in the slow movements of Italian sonatas, for example, it was not unusual for composers to write only a bass and a simple melody without signs, nevertheless expecting the performer to embellish the melody substantially. The Germans developed an extremely codified system of ornamental notation, and remains the one with which most people are familiar today. French composers generally used signs, the most common being "+", which could indicate virtually any kind of ornament. As the Baroque era progressed, increased regimentation affected the practice of ornamentation throughout Europe, but the sound goal remained consistent: that the ornamentation should sound improvisatory and unlabored.

Symbols and Tables

Ornament symbols were not standardized...