Martellement
Martellement, French for “hammering”, is a name for a short ornament of older French music that some sources equate with the mordent. As a mordent the ornament consists of the main note, the lower neighbour note and the main note again and is played short and fast, like a blow with a hammer.
- Word meaning
- “hammering” (French)
- Equated with
- mordent (according to some sources)
- Notes
- main note – lower neighbour – main note
- Sign (mordent)
- short zigzag line with a vertical stroke
A French name
The French music of the Baroque had fixed names for ornaments, the “agréments”. The martellement is equated with the mordent in some sources; which ornament the name means exactly depends on the author and the time. The word means “hammering”: the figure is short and striking like a hammer blow.
Notation: a quarter note with a sign
The sign itself is not shown here; the marked note is the one over which it would stand.
Execution: main note, lower neighbour, main note
The ornament is written out: C – B – C. The first two notes are short, the third note takes the rest of the quarter.
Mordent and schneller compared
The mordent and the schneller have the same shape: main note – neighbour note – main note. The difference lies in the neighbour note. With the mordent it lies below the main note (in the example the B below C), with the schneller above. The execution is short and fast in both cases, the third note is the longest.
How literally a sign is to be taken depends on the period and the edition. Editions of early music often print ornament tables that explain each sign in written-out form.
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Related terms
MordentSchneller (inverted mordent)TrillGrace noteTurn
Editor: Maik Krohm · reviewed on 3 October 2026
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