Editing Diminution (section)

{{Short description|Term used in Western music and music theory}}
{{about|the musical term||Diminution (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Trattado p.5.JPG|thumb|300px|Extract from [[Diego Ortiz]]'s ''El Primo Libro ... Nel qual si tratta delle Glose'' depicting rhythm and generic intervals. Observe the diminution (i.e. division) process suggested by the composer, in reference to the rhythmic figures in the upper and lower musical parts.]]
[[File:Trattado p.5 bottom.png|thumb|400px|A realization of the bottom line of the above Diego Ortiz extract in modern notation, completed with an arbitrarily chosen clef and a time signature. {{audio|Trattado p.5 bottom.mid|Play}}]]

In [[Western culture|Western]] [[music]] and [[music theory]], '''diminution''' (from [[Medieval Latin]] ''diminutio'', alteration of Latin ''deminutio'', decrease) has four distinct meanings. Diminution may be a form of [[embellishment (music)|embellishment]] in which a long [[Musical note|note]] is divided into a series of shorter, usually melodic, values (also called "[[Color (medieval music)#Coloration (ornamentation)|coloration]]"; Ger. ''Kolorieren''). Diminution may also be the compositional device where a [[melody]], [[theme (music)|theme]] or [[motif (music)|motif]] is presented in shorter note-values than were previously used. Diminution is also the term for the proportional shortening of the [[note value|value]] of individual note-shapes in mensural notation, either by [[color (medieval music)|coloration]] or by a [[Mensural notation#Proportions and colorations|sign of proportion]]. A minor or perfect [[interval (music)|interval]] that is narrowed by a [[chromatic semitone]] is a diminished interval, and the process may be referred to as diminution (this, too, was sometimes referred to as "[[Color (medieval music)#Color (chromaticism)|coloration]]").