Mark Clifton-Gaultier wrote: ↑Sun Feb 11, 2018 7:30 pm
Brooke Martin wrote: For me, the question really arose with some Sor pieces that had grace notes with slashes through them, meaning that they're acciaccaturas.
Strictly speaking they might more clearly be referred to as short appoggiature which actually speaks of their execution. Nomenclature sometimes becomes misused and then commonly aprropriated - the term acciaccatura originally pertained to a specific keyboard effect whereby a dissonant note would be struck
simultaneously with its resolution - the dissonant note immediately being muted. This effect is of course also available in certain instances on some string instruments such as the lute or guitar.
During the 1700s no particular
written distinction was made between long and short appoggiature. The slash began to be added by the early 1800s, however there was no intention to change the execution but simply to provide a visual difference between the two ornaments. Be careful with Sor - it very much depends on the edition as to whether you will find these slashes in the graces.
Brooke Martin wrote:In the Classical era, they're generally played before the beat.
What is your source for this information? It stands at odds with everything that I have ever read about the performance of 19th C music - in fact you can pretty much say that "on-the-beat" execution of appoggiature was taught as the rule.
There are many instruction manuals which present examples of written graces followed by their execution which make this abundantly clear. Here is one example:
on-beat_1.png
The above is taken from a flute method of around 1790; the top line is marked, "as we write", the lower one, "as we play".
on-beat_2.png
From Czerny's 1839 "Complete Practical Pianoforte School" again marked "written" and "played".
on-beat_3.png
... and this from Carcassi.
There are dozens and dozens of examples to be found - all of them specify the same manner of execution - some even complaining of how "some" performers get it wrong and how bad this sounds.