Ornamentation in the Baroque and Classical Eras of Music

Many students who study a classical instrument will someday be asked to perform a piece from the Baroque or Classical eras of music. These pieces are standards of the repertoire for almost every instrument and can be very challenging, but many are also simple in nature and are appropriate for younger students. For every level of expertise, one of the most challenging and confusing aspects of these styles of music is ornamentation. In the Baroque and Classical eras, improvisation and ornamentation were expected and if done well, gave the performer a stellar reputation. Improvisation is no longer expected of our current classical performers, but the ornamentation remains. This aspect is made even more difficult by the ever-changing nature of musical tastes. The result is that basic musical ideas, such as trills and grace notes, mean very different things musically, when presented in a Classical piece vs. a Baroque piece. My goal in this project is to use primary sources from the eras and expertise of modern musicians to clarify the stylistically appropriate approaches to ornamentation in the Classical and Baroque eras, and create a resource for other performers to use when approaching their own performance. In my presentation I will explain and demonstrate examples of Classical and Baroque ornamentation through Mozart’s Oboe Concerto in C Major and Telemann’s Oboe Sonata in G minor. I will also briefly explore the important events of the eras that shaped music and performance practice