Complete Encyclopaedia of Music/A/Acciaccatura

by John Weeks Moore

Acciaccatura, or ACCIACCATURE. (I.) (Old term, nearly equivalent to Appoggiatura.) Clementi says that, in the old music, this character, half beat, is sometimes found placed on the semitone above, and taken as a flat. Acciaccatura is particularly used to indicate the manner in which certain passages are intended to be performed on the harpsichord, and signifies that sweeping of the chords, and dropping of sprinkled notes, which are particularly proper in accompaniments, and which constitute one of the greatest beauties of that instrument. Germiniani asserts, in his "Treatise on Good Taste," published in 1749, that the Acciaccatura had been then in use above a hundred years. It is said by some to be a useless ornament ; still it is much used by the most skilful performers, and is a grace peculiar to the piano-forte and organ. It is always expressed by a small note before the principal note, and is generally a semitone below the principal note, as follows:—

There is another species of Acciaccatura, which is expressed by the sign , and is termed by some the Double Acciaccatura.