How do you do trills in Haydn?

[theholygideons]

I'm currently playing Haydn's Sonata in C major, Hob.XVI:50. I just need clarification on how to play these trills on the 4th page. I seldom, if ever, play anything classical  , so what's the rule for trills in Haydn?

Thanks

[pianosfun]

I'm not sure. If you don't play "classical" much, though, I wouldn't worry about it. Why not just listen to a recording of it and imitate that?


However, I would do the trill so that it pointed to the note before it and after it. Just remember that it's only an ornament. The main melody is the focus. So practice going from one note to another single note. Then try putting the trill in there slowly.

[kalirren]

That's strange, the edition I remember learning that out of had all of those trills as turns.

This being Baroque, they would have improvised the heck out of them anyway, so it makes very little difference.

[theholygideons]

That's strange, the edition I remember learning that out of had all of those trills as turns.

This being Baroque, they would have improvised the heck out of them anyway, so it makes very little difference.

yeah, that's why i'm confused... why do they write trills when it ends up being turns? >:/

[iansinclair]

yeah, that's why i'm confused... why do they write trills when it ends up being turns? >:/

"they" (meaning the folks who type-set your music) shouldn't.  They should make a clear distinction between the various ornaments (there are lots of them) but... sadly, they don't always.  For that matter, neither did Haydn (Bach was a little more fanatical about it).  For that matter, Baroque and classical performing practice is rather flexible on the subject of ornaments, as you will hear if you listen to different recordings.

There are two more or less hard and fast rules, though: first, with exceedingly rare exceptions, an ornament such as a trill or a turn or whatever will begin on the note of the scale or mode above or below the written main note, rather than starting on the main note as trills and such in romantic and later music usually do.  This really isn't just whimsy; Baroque and classical ornaments are very often (I won't say always, gets me in trouble) on a note which  itself is a leading tone, and the ornament decorates that note and, itself, leads to the final tone.  The second rule is that ornaments in Baroque and classical music are always in time, never "as fast as I can wiggle my fingers".  They may, in some cases, actually be rather slow.  The time is usually exactly twice as fast as the finest subdivision in the written music.  That is to say, if you are looking at music and the shortest common notes are eighth notes, then the ornaments will be sixteenths.  In some rare situations, when the tempo is very slow, the ornament might be four times as fast -- that is to say, thirtysecond notes, in the previous example.  In any case, slow enough to be quite distinct and part of the contrapuntal line.

[quantum]

The following book is a good introduction to ornamentation:
https://www.amazon.com/Ornamentation-A-Question-Answer-Manual/dp/0882845497