What Is a Figura Corta?

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In the second volume of his monumental Phrynis (Mytilenæus) Oder Satyrischer Componist (1677), Wolfgang Caspar Printz (1641–1717) gives the following definition:

“Figura Corta consists of three fast notes / of which one is as long as the other two combined.”

“Figura Corta besteht aus dreyen geschwinden Noten / deren doch ein so lang ist / als die übrigen beyde zugleich.”

W.C. Printz, Satyrischer Componist, vol. 2, (1677), no page indication (chapter 11: On Mixed Figures (Von denen Vermengten Figuren), public domain, available on https://imslp.org; my translation.

Printz’s musical examples make clear that

  • a figura corta, or simply corta, coincides with the length of one beat and therefore belongs to the decoratio, i.e. the figuration of a musical passage
  • there are three types:
    • a common type with the longer note first
    • a rare, syncopated type with the longer note in the middle
    • a common type with the longer note last.

Johann Gottfried Walther (1684–1748) reproduces Printz’s definition almost verbatim, although he doesn’t include the syncopated version:

J.G. Walther, Musicalisches Lexicon (1732),
p. 244, public domain, available on https://imslp.org
J.G. Walther, Musicalisches Lexicon (1732), Tab. XI, Fig. 1, public domain, available on https://imslp.org.

A variant of the figura corta, the figura suspirans, or simply suspirans, is discussed in a separate essay.

Select Bibliography

Butt, John. Bach Interpretation — Articulation Marks in Primary Sources of J. S. Bach (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).

Printz, Wolfgang Caspar. Phrynis Mytilenæus Oder Ander Theil des Satyrischen Componistens — Ander Theil (Quedlinburg, 1677).

Walther, Johann Gottfried. Musicalisches Lexicon (Leipzig, 1732).