appoggiatura

[ uh-poj-uh-toor-uh, -tyoor-uh; Italian ahp-pawd-jah-too-rah ]

noun

, Music.

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

appoggiatura

/ 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of appoggiatura¹

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; ap- ¹, podium, -ate ¹, -ure

Word History and Origins

Origin of appoggiatura¹

C18: from Italian, literally: a propping, from appoggiare to prop, support

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

The thing that appoggiaturas, enharmonic change and the other structures Sloboda looked at have in common is that they represent dramatic shifts in the music – often in a direction we weren’t expecting.

From The Guardian

Musical jargon peppers the discussion: for readers who do not know their arpeggios from their appoggiaturas, parts of the book will be difficult to understand.

From Economist

But Mr. Tetzlaff, who has performed these works many times and recorded them twice, has become a master colorist, injecting nuances of articulation, inflection, bowing and ornamentation: a nudging appoggiatura here, a melodic twist there.

From New York Times

One is the minor third, which is perhaps based on sad speech patterns, and another is the appoggiatura, as are used in Adele’s Some Like You.

From Scientific American