Ribattuta
The ribattuta (Italian “striking again”) is an ornament of the Baroque in which a note alternates repeatedly with its upper neighbour and gradually gets faster. It often serves as the preparation of a trill: first the two notes alternate slowly, then the motion accelerates until it passes into the trill.
- Word meaning
- Italian “striking again”
- Sequence
- alternation with the upper neighbour, ever faster
- Goal
- passes into the trill
- Notation
- written out or as a term over the note
From alternation to trill
A trill alternates at an even speed with the upper neighbour. The ribattuta begins more slowly. The note is struck repeatedly with its neighbour, and the gaps become ever shorter until the alternation becomes the trill itself. The name stresses the repeating character: the note is “struck” again and again.
Notation: a whole note with an ornament mark
In the notation there is usually a long note, over which the word ribattuta or an ornament sign may appear. Often the ornament is written out straight away.
Execution: the alternation accelerates
First E–F alternate in eighth notes, then in sixteenth notes, then in thirty-second notes. The motion becomes denser until it passes into an even trill.
In the glossary: Trill · Chain trill · Schneller
Notation
In notation the ribattuta is often written out, as in the example. Sometimes only the term is written over the note. Which signs individual sources use for it is not uniform. The example shows a simplified form with even note values; depending on source and period the ornament is also executed differently. Exactly how the acceleration runs is not fixed but a question of performance practice.
Distinctions
The ribattuta is not the simple trill, for it has a run-up with changing speed. Nor is it the schneller, which has only a single alternation. With the chain trill, which joins trills on several notes, it has only the principle of flowing motion in common.
Continue on Maikstrings
Related terms
TrillChain trillDouble trillSchneller (inverted mordent)NachschlagGrace note
Editor: Maik Krohm · reviewed on 3 October 2026
← Back to the glossary