Figuration
Embellishing accompaniment figures.
What it means
Figuration designates the breaking down of chords or melody notes into smaller, evenly moving sequences of notes. A sustained chord becomes a running figure, a long melody note a movement playing around it. The harmony remains the same in the process; only its sonic shape is changed.
Figuration is to be distinguished from ornamentation in the narrower sense. An ornament such as a trill or turn concerns a single note and is notated as a sign; a figuration shapes a whole section and is written out. It differs from diminution in that the latter breaks an existing melody down into smaller values, whereas figuration often concerns the accompaniment.
In the notation
Figurations are written out completely, usually in even eighth or sixteenth notes. They are recognizable by the regular movement pattern that holds over many bars, and by the fact that the notes of a figure belong to the same chord. In piano music the figuration often lies in the left hand while the right leads the melody.
Musical use
Broken accompaniment figures belong to the basic stock of instrumental music since the Baroque. A fixed pattern with a low starting note and repeated upper notes shapes the piano music of the eighteenth century; in the Romantic period the figures become more spacious and often cover several octaves. They fulfil a tonal task at the same time: on instruments with a decaying tone, the motion keeps the harmony audible.
In variation movements, figuration also serves to show a theme in ever new shape.
Figuration transforms a chord into motion, for instance by breaking, scales, or playing around.
Performance practice
Hear the harmony that stands behind the figure, and shape it as a surface of sound instead of a sequence of individual notes. Keep the motion even; uneven figures draw attention away from the melody. Take back the volume where the figuration accompanies, and take care that the bass note carries. And practise difficult figures as grips: whoever can grasp the underlying chord plays the figure more securely.