Editing Diminution (section)

== Diminution as embellishment ==
Diminution is a form of [[variation (music)|embellishment]] or melodic [[:wikt:variation|variation]] in which a long note or a series of long notes is divided into shorter, usually melodic, values, as in the similar practices of ''breaking'' or ''[[division (music)|division]]'' in England, ''passaggio'' in Italy, ''double'' in France and ''glosas'' or ''diferencias'' in Spain.{{r|greer}} It is thoroughly documented in written sources of the sixteenth, seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and enjoyed a remarkable flowering in Venice from about 1580–1620. It is an integral aspect of modern [[Historically informed performance|performance practice]]; Donington describes the consequences of failing to add "necessary figuration" as "disastrous".{{r|donington|p=152}}

===Italian literature of the sixteenth and early seventeenth century===
* [[Silvestro Ganassi]] [http://imslp.org/wiki/Opera_Intitulata_Fontegara_(Ganassi,_Sylvestro) ''Opera Intitulata Fontegara'' (Venice, 1535)]
* [[Diego Ortiz]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Trattado_de_Glosas_(Ortiz,_Diego) ''Nel qual si tratta delle Glose'' (1553)]
* [[Giovanni Camillo Maffei|Giovanni Maffei]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Maffei,_Giovanni_Camillo ''Delle lettere del Sr. Gio. Camillo Maffei da Solofra'' (1562)]
* [[Girolamo Dalla Casa]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Il_vero_modo_di_diminuir_(Dalla_Casa,_Girolamo) ''Il vero modo di diminuir'' (1584)]
* [[Giovanni Bassano]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Ricercate,_Passaggi_et_Cadentie_(Bassano,_Giovanni) ''Ricercate, Passaggi et Cadentie'' (1585)]
* [[Giovanni Luca Conforti]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Breve_et_facile_maniera_d%27essercitarsi_a_far_passaggi_(Conforti,_Giovanni_Luca) ''Breve et facile maniera d'essercitarsi a far passaggi'' (1593)]
* [[Riccardo Rogniono]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Passaggi_per_potersi_essercitare_nel_diminuire_terminatamente_(Rognoni,_Riccardo) ''Passaggi per potersi essercitare nel diminuire terminatamente'' (1594)]
* [[Giovanni Battista Bovicelli]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Regole,_passaggi_di_musica_(Bovicelli,_Giovanni_Battista) ''Regole, passaggi di musica'' (1594)]
* [[Aurelio Virgiliano]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Il_Dolcimelo_(Virgiliano,_Aurelio) Il Dolcimelo (ms, c. 1600; first publication 1979)]
* [[Francesco Rognoni Taeggio]], [http://www.imslp.org/wiki/Essempi_per_Sonar_alla_Bastarda_(Rognoni_Taeggio,_Francesco) ''Selve de varii passaggi'' (1620 )]
* [[Giovanni Battista Spadi]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Libro_de_passaggi_ascendenti_et_descendenti_(Spadi,_Giovanni_Battista) ''Libro de passaggi ascendenti et descendenti'' (1624)]

===Spanish literature===
* [[Diego Ortiz]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Trattado_de_Glosas_(Ortiz,_Diego) ''Trattado de Glosas'' (1553)]

===English literature===
*[[Christopher Simpson (musician)|Christopher Simpson]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Division_Viol_(Simpson,_Christopher) ''The Division-Violist'' (1659)]
*[http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Division_Violin_(Playford,_John) ''The Division-Violin'' (Playford, 1684)]
*''[[The Division Flute]]'' [http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Division_Flute_(Walsh,_John) (Walsh, c. 1706)]

===German literature===
*[[Adrianus Petit Coclico]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Compendium_Musices_(Coclico,_Adrianus_Petit) ''Compendium Musices'' (Nuremberg, 1552)]
* [[Michael Praetorius]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Syntagma_Musicum_(Praetorius,_Michael) ''Syntagma Musicum'', book 3 (1618)]
* [[Johann Andreas Herbst]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Musica_practica_(Herbst,_Johann_Andreas) ''Musica practica'' (1642)]

===Dutch literature===
*[[Jacob van Eyck]], [http://imslp.org/wiki/Der_Fluyten_Lust-Hof_(Eyck,_Jacob_van) ''Der Fluyten Lust-hof'' (Amsterdam, 1646)] is a huge collection of diminutions.{{r|sifd|p=3}}

For [[Heinrich Schenker]], "all foreground is diminution".<ref>{{cite book|last=Schenker|first=Heinrich|title=Free Composition|translator=Ernst Oster|year=1979|publisher=Longman|location=New York, London|pages=96, § 252}}</ref> "All diminution must be secured firmly to the total work by means which are precisely demonstrable and organically verified by the inner necessities of the voice-leading".<ref>{{cite book|last=Schenker|first=Heinrich|title=Free Composition|translator=Ernst Oster|year=1979|publisher=Longman|location=New York, London|pages=98, § 253}}</ref> This conception has been essential to Schenker's theory from some of his earliest writings.<ref>{{cite book|last=Schenker|first=Heinrich|title=Ein Beitrag zur Ornamentik als Einführung zu Ph. Em. Bach's Klavierwerken|year=1908 |orig-year=1904|publisher=Universal Edition|location=Wien, Leipzig}}</ref> In [[Schenkerian analysis#Techniques of prolongation|Schenkerian analysis]] a diminution is an elaboration by which an event formed of notes of longer value is expressed in notes of smaller value. See [[nonchord tone]].