“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”
― Victor Hugo
I was introduced to this piece in a workshop with Carlo Aonzo, and the + mark was one of the first things we talked about. He was pretty clear that mark meant it was up to the player how to ornament the affected note, and played a few possibilities. So: choose an ornamentation style you like and use that, it’s really player’s choice.
I think this paragraph from John Goodin's book "Telemann for Mandolin" may be useful:
"Telemann used the plus sign (+) to indicate a trill in most of his self-published music. Typlically in Telemann's lifetime, a trill would begin on the note above the writen note. Pluck-string instruments, like the mandolin, however, have certain limitations when executing trills. In a brief discussion with the Italian virtuoso Carlo Aonzo he suggested that it might be helpful to think of these signs as "embellishments" and to view them as an apportunity to add something extra to the bare note in some way that seems fitting."
Aye, + is often a generic ornament, but—in baroque-era and shortly thereafter scores—can usually be interpreted as a trill (i.e., rapidly alternating between the noted pitch [principal] and its upper auxiliary [usually the scale step above] for as many iterations as you'd like—or can manage—to pack in). Whether or not an ornament begins on the principal or an auxiliary is usually a function of era and specific ornament, but it should end on the principal. Perhaps not the most respected source of scholarship, but the Wikipedia article on ornaments is quite nice and touches on the use of the plus sign as a trill surrogate.
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