ABSTRACT
Embellishments for repetitions of themes or sections were thus often not written down by composers. There is one indication that embellishments are appropriate only in slow movements: most of Leopold Mozart’s examples of embellishment contain figurations that can only be played satisfactorily at a slow tempo. In a personal communication to the authors, Robert Levin expressed the opinion that whenever this kind of accompaniment appears in slow movements, the melody should get an embellishment. Advocates of many improvised embellishments like Levin and Malcolm Bilson argue at this point in the discussion that the eighteenth-century custom of ornamenting all repeats must also apply to Mozart’s works. Fortunately, there are a number of works in which Mozart has provided precious illustrations of his rather personal method of embellishment, and these should be studied most carefully by anyone who wishes to add stylistically idiomatic embellishments.
