appoggiatura

American  

[uh-poj-uh-toor-uh, -tyoor-uh, ahp-pawd-jah-too-rah] / əˌpɒdʒ əˈtʊər ə, -ˈtyʊər ə, ɑpˌpɔd dʒɑˈtu rɑ /

noun

Music.

1. a note of embellishment preceding another note and taking a portion of its time.

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appoggiatura British  

/ əˌpɒdʒəˈtʊərə /

noun

1. music an ornament consisting of a nonharmonic note (short or long) preceding a harmonic one either before or on the stress See also acciaccatura

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Etymology

Origin of appoggiatura

First recorded in 1745–55; from Italian: literally, “a propping up,” equivalent to appoggiat(o), past participle of appoggiare “to support” + -ura abstract noun suffix; see ap- ¹, podium, -ate ¹, -ure

Example Sentences

He tended to gloss over big moments with infuriatingly brisk tempos, and the crunching appoggiatura on the work’s final chord, one of the most eloquent dissonances in all of music history, simply failed to register.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2018

The WSJ article describes an appoggiatura as “a type of ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to create a dissonant sound.”

From Scientific American • Mar. 1, 2012

So for a short auditory definition of the appoggiatura and a taste of the controversy surrounding its application to Adele, I’ll refer you to this piece from NPR entitled, “Another take on the ‘Appoggiatura.‘”

From Scientific American • Mar. 1, 2012

Last week in Los Angeles, Les Fetes d'Hebe was given a glowing new production that reveled in each melodic appoggiatura and terpsichorean temps de courante.

From Time Magazine Archive

The effect is to suspend the principal note, by taking away the time-value of the appoggiatura prefixed to it.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 3 "Apollodorus" to "Aral" by Various