Appoggiatura, escape tone, anticipation and cambiata

Definition

Besides passing tones, neighbor tones and suspensions, tonal music uses a second group of non-chord tones, characterized by a leap or by an early arrival:

• appoggiatura: arrives by leap on a strong beat and resolves by step;
• escape tone (échappée): arrives by step and leaves by leap, usually in the opposite direction;
• anticipation: sounds a note of the next chord before the chord arrives;
• cambiata: a four-note melodic figure in which a dissonance is left by a leap of a third and then “recovered.”

Appoggiatura

• It falls on the strong beat (or on the strong part of the beat), and it is dissonant.
• It is reached by leap (unlike the suspension, which is prepared, and the accented passing tone, which arrives by step).
• It resolves by step, almost always in the direction opposite to the leap: you leap up a fourth to the dissonance, then step down to the chord tone.
• Example over G7: melody G – C – B (leap G → C, the C is the dissonant fourth, resolving to B).
• It is the most expressive non-chord tone: it gives the melody a sense of “yearning.”

Escape tone

• It falls on the weak beat.
• It arrives by step and leaves by leap (usually a third in the opposite direction).
• Typical cadential figure: D – E – C over V–I (the E escapes upward and then the melody leaps to C).

Anticipation

• A note of the next chord is played before the harmony changes, on the weak beat, and is then repeated or held when the chord arrives.
• A classic of Baroque cadences: the soprano anticipates the tonic over the V (D – C – C: the first C still sounds over G).
• In modern music rhythmic anticipation (the “push” of the melody, or of the whole band, before the downbeat) follows the same principle.

Cambiata

A figure codified by Renaissance counterpoint: a dissonant note reached by descending step is left by a descending leap of a third, and then the melody climbs back by step: C – B – G – A over an A minor chord (the B is dissonant). The dissonance “escapes” but is compensated by the movement that follows.

Summary table

Practical rules

• The appoggiatura must be accented and its resolution should come soon: if it lasts too long the harmony becomes ambiguous.
• Don't overuse escape tones: they are ornamental gestures, typical of cadences.
• The anticipation works best with short values and in the top voice.
• When analyzing, always ask yourself: how does the note arrive? how does it leave? where does it fall?

Typical mistakes

• Calling any non-chord tone on a strong beat an appoggiatura: if it is prepared it is a suspension, and if it arrives by step it is an accented passing tone.
• Resolving the appoggiatura by leap.
• Putting an anticipation on the strong beat.

Examples

• Mozart, arias and slow movements: appoggiaturas on accented long notes, written out in full or in small notes.
• Bach chorales: tonic anticipations in the soprano and escape tones in the cadences.
• Handel: cadential anticipations at the ends of arias.
• Adele, “Someone Like You”: melodic appoggiaturas in the chorus, which make the line aching and intense.
• Pop and funk: rhythmic anticipations of half a beat or an eighth note on every chord change.

How to use it in composition

• To load an important word of a lyric, put it on an appoggiatura.
• For a light, graceful ending, use an escape tone before the tonic.
• For a more driving groove, anticipate the chord change by an eighth note in the bass and melody.

Exercise

1. Write four bars of melody over I–IV–V7–I with an appoggiatura, an escape tone and an anticipation, and analyze them.
2. Turn a 4-3 suspension into an appoggiatura by removing the preparation: compare the effect.
3. Find at least one appoggiatura in the chorus melody of a song you know.

Related topics

Non-chord tones; Passing tones and neighbor tones; Suspensions; Acciaccatura and appoggiatura (ornaments); Third-species counterpoint; Syncopation and anticipation.