What’s an appoggiatura?
It comes (obviously) from Italian; appoggiare means to lean upon, to rest.
It is (or was) frequently shown by a note of smaller size.
Here’s an appoggiatura:
it sounds like this…
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Notice that it moves from stressed discord…
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… to unstressed concord…
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The tension produced by emphasising this dissonant clash has been used from time immemorial by composers wanting to portray sadness, distress, despair, etc.
Here, for instance, is a stressed out Prince Calaf attempting to solve the sphinx-like riddles of the icy Princess Turandot (oodles of appoggiaturas!)
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The Art of Listening 