Editing Diminution (section)

== Diminution in composition ==

A [[melody]] or series of notes is diminished if the lengths of the notes are shortened; diminution is thus the opposite of [[augmentation (music)|augmentation]], where the notes are lengthened. A melody originally consisting of four crotchets ([[quarter-note]]s) for example, is diminished if it later appears with four quavers ([[eighth-note]]s) instead. In the following theme from Beethoven's Leonora no. 3 Overture, the melodic ideas in bars 3 and 5 recur at twice the speed in bars 7–8: [[File:Beethoven, Leonora no. 3 overture, bars 69-76.wav|thumb|Beethoven, Leonora no. 3 overture, bars 69–76]] [[File:Leonora no 3.png|thumb|center|500px|Leonora no 3]]This technique is often used in [[counterpoint|contrapuntal]] music, as in the "[[canon (music)|canon]] by diminution" ("''per diminutionem''"), in which the notes in the following voice or voices are shorter than those in the leading voice, usually half the length.<ref name="Jeppesen">Jeppesen, Knud. ''Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the Sixteenth Century''. trans. Glen Haydon. New York: Dover Publications. 1992. p. 235 {{cite book|isbn=978-0-486-27036-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/counterpointpoly0000jepp|title=Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the Sixteenth Century|last1=Jeppesen|first1=Knud|date=January 1992|publisher=Courier Corporation }}</ref> [[File:Contrapunctus VII from Bach's Art of Fugue.wav|thumb|Contrapunctus VII from Bach's Art of Fugue]][[File:Art de la fugue exemple04.png|thumb|center|400px|''Contrapuntus VII'' from Bach's ''[[Art of Fugue]]''. Observe the lower voice of the canon in halved (i.e. diminished) note values.]] In [[jazz]], [[Thelonious Monk]]'s composition "[[Brilliant Corners]]" consists of a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TLEPQZIVOg theme] that is repeated at twice the speed, an effect known as "[[double time]]."