Diminution
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Diminution
In 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 in which a long note is divided into a series of shorter, usually melodic, values (also called " coloration"; Ger. ''Kolorieren''). Diminution may also be the compositional device where a melody, theme or motif is presented in shorter note-values than were previously used. Diminution is also the term for the proportional shortening of the value of individual note-shapes in mensural notation, either by coloration or by a sign of proportion. A minor or perfect 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 " coloration"). Diminution as embellishment Diminution is a form of embellishment or melodic variation in which a long note or a series of long notes is divided ...
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Mensural Notation
Mensural notation is the musical notation system used for European vocal polyphonic music from the later part of the 13th century until about 1600. The term "mensural" refers to the ability of this system to describe precisely measured rhythmic durations in terms of numerical proportions between note values. Its modern name is inspired by the terminology of medieval theorists, who used terms like ''musica mensurata'' ("measured music") or ''cantus mensurabilis'' ("measurable song") to refer to the rhythmically defined polyphonic music of their age, as opposed to ''musica plana'' or ''musica choralis'', i.e., Gregorian plainchant. Mensural notation was employed principally for compositions in the tradition of vocal polyphony, whereas plainchant retained its own, older system of neume notation throughout the period. Besides these, some purely instrumental music could be written in various forms of instrument-specific tablature notation. Mensural notation grew out of an earlier, ...
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Giovanni Luca Conforti
Giovanni Luca Conforti (1560 – May 11, 1608) was an Italian composer and prominent falsetto singerNutter, David. "Conforti, Giovanni Luca." ''Grove Music Online''. ed. L. Macy. (accessed 24 November 2008). who wrote an exercise book about Baroque embellishments, ''Breve et facile maniera d'essercitarsi ad ogni scolaro'' or ''Brief and easy manner of exercising for every student'',Conforto, Giovanni Luca. ''Breve et facile maniera d'essercitarsi ad ogni scolaro''. NY: Broude Bros., 1978 still in use today. Biography Conforti, also spelled Conforto, was born in Mileto, Calabria, around 1560. He sang in the Papal chapel from 1580 to October 31, 1585. He and several of his colleagues were expelled for joining the Congregazione dei Musici di Roma, membership of which was forbidden to papal singers, though he was later allowed to rejoin. In 1586, he was reportedly serving the Duke of Sessa when Cardinal Scipione Gonzaga and protonotary Camillo Capilupi recommended him for service at ...
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Color (medieval Music)
In medieval music theory, the terms color and coloration are used in four distinct senses, two of which relate to the notation and structuring of note durations, the third to florid ornamentation, and the fourth to the quality of chromatic music. Coloration (mensural notation device) As a notation device in mensural notation, the 14th–16th century system of notating musical meters and rhythms, ''coloration'' refers to the technique of marking notes as having a change in durational value—most commonly a reduction to two thirds of their normal value. It is indicated by literally coloring the note-heads in the written music differently than their normal appearance. In the 14th and early 15th century, colored notes were typically marked in red while normal notes were black; in the 16th century, the same effect was achieved by filling the note-heads in black while normal notes were hollow. Sequences of colored notes can be used to notate triplet rhythms or hemiola effects. Color ...
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Chromatic Semitone
In modern Western tonal music theory an augmented unison or augmented prime is the interval between two notes on the same staff position, or denoted by the same note letter, whose alterations cause them, in ordinary equal temperament, to be one semitone apart. In other words, it is a unison where one note has been altered by a half-step, such as B and B or C and C. The interval is often described as a chromatic semitone. The term, in its French form ''unisson superflu'', appears to have been coined by Jean-Philippe Rameau in 1722, who also called this interval a minor semitone (''semiton mineur'').Gene Henry Anderson, "Musical Terminology in J.-P. Rameau's ''Traité de l'harmonie'': A Study and Glossary Based on an Index". PhD diss. (Iowa City: University of Iowa, 1981): 196. Historically, this interval, like the tritone, is described as being "mi contra fa", and therefore is the "diabolus in musica" (the Devil in music). In 12-tone equal temperament, it is the enharmonic equiva ...
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Giovanni Camillo Maffei
Giovanni Camillo Maffei da Solofra was an Italian doctor, philosopher and musician of the mid-16th century, in the middle Renaissance. Between 1562 and 1573 he lived in Naples, where he served Giovanni di Capua, count of Altavilla and music lover. In his philosophy he was Aristotelian. He wrote a treatise on vocal music, "Lettera sul canto", in which he sets forth rules for the singing of diminution In 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 in which a long note is divided into a series of ...s. The letter is included in the two volumes of his ''Lettere'' (Napoli, 1562) also cited as ''Discorso delta voce e del modo d'apparare di cantar di garganta'', and ''Scala naturale, overo Fantasia dolcissima, intorno alle cose occulte e desiderate nella filosofia'' (Venice, 1564), dedicated to the Count of Altavilla, where it runs on ...
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Embellishment (music)
In music, ornaments or embellishments are musical flourishes—typically, added notes—that are not essential to carry the overall line of the melody (or harmony), but serve instead to decorate or "ornament" that line (or harmony), provide added interest and variety, and give the performer the opportunity to add expressiveness to a song or piece. Many ornaments are performed as "fast notes" around a central, main note. There are many types of ornaments, ranging from the addition of a single, short grace note before a main note to the performance of a virtuosic and flamboyant trill. The amount of ornamentation in a piece of music can vary from quite extensive (it was often extensive in the Baroque period, from 1600 to 1750) to relatively little or even none. The word ''agrément'' is used specifically to indicate the French Baroque style of ornamentation. Improvised vs. written In the Baroque period, it was common for performers to improvise ornamentation on a given melodic li ...
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Color (medieval Music)
In medieval music theory, the terms color and coloration are used in four distinct senses, two of which relate to the notation and structuring of note durations, the third to florid ornamentation, and the fourth to the quality of chromatic music. Coloration (mensural notation device) As a notation device in mensural notation, the 14th–16th century system of notating musical meters and rhythms, ''coloration'' refers to the technique of marking notes as having a change in durational value—most commonly a reduction to two thirds of their normal value. It is indicated by literally coloring the note-heads in the written music differently than their normal appearance. In the 14th and early 15th century, colored notes were typically marked in red while normal notes were black; in the 16th century, the same effect was achieved by filling the note-heads in black while normal notes were hollow. Sequences of colored notes can be used to notate triplet rhythms or hemiola effects. Color ...
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Riccardo Rogniono
Riccardo Rognoni or Richardo Rogniono (ca. 1550 – before 20 April 1620) is the earliest known member of the Rognoni family which started one of the earliest of all violin schools, based in Milan. His treatise ''Passaggi per potersi esercitare nel diminuire'' ("Passages for practice in diminution"), Venice 1592, is the first to mention the ''violino da brazzo'', or violin. He was directly involved in taking the violin from a street instrument to court instrument in the Lombard area. Some of his excellent violin pupils include his sons Francesco Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (other), sev ... and Giovanni Domenico. The noble title ''Taegio'' or ''Taeggio'' was conferred on the Rognoni family by king Sigismund III of Poland, and appears on the title-pages of works of Rognon ...
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Division (music)
In music, division (also called diminution or coloration) refers to a type of ornamentation or variation common in 16th- and 17th-century music in which each note of a melodic line is "divided" into several shorter, faster-moving notes, often by a rhythmic repetition of a simple musical device such as the trill, turn or cambiata on each note in turn, or by the introduction of nonchord tones or arpeggio figures. The word was used in this sense to describe improvised coloratura ornamentation as used by opera singers of the day, but it made a ready way of devising variations upon a theme, and was particularly cultivated in the form of the "division on a ground" – the building of successively higher and faster parts onto a repeating bass-line. Examples of "divisions on a ground" were written by, among others, John Jenkins and Christopher Simpson. Simpson gives a lengthy explanation of the art of free improvisation over an ostinato bass-line in his book ''The Division Viol'' (1 ...
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Diego Ortiz
Diego Ortiz (c. 1510 – c. 1576) was a Spanish composer and music theorist in service to the viceroy of Naples ruled by the Spanish monarchs Charles V and Philip II. Ortiz published the first manual on ornamentation for bowed string instruments, and a large collection of sacred vocal compositions. Biography Very little is known about Ortiz's life. He is believed to have been born in Toledo and probably died in Rome, where its trail is lost. In 1553 Ortiz was living in the viceroyalty of Naples. Five years later, the third duke of Alba, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, appointed him maestro di cappella of the Chapel Royal of Naples. In 1565 Ortiz still held the post under the Viceroy Pedro Afán de Ribera, duke of Alcalá. A recent study suggests that Diego Ortiz could have been the model for a very relevant personage in the famous work of Paolo Caliari Veronese "The Wedding at Cana", based on the instrumental ensemble represented by the painter, the edition date of Ortiz ...
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Girolamo Dalla Casa
__NOTOC__ Girolamo Dalla Casa (also known as Hieronymo de Udene, died 1601) was an Italian composer, instrumentalist, and writer of the late Renaissance. He was a member of the Venetian School, and was perhaps more famous and influential as a performer than as a composer. Nothing is known about his life prior to his arrival at Venice, but he was probably born at Udine sometime before the middle of the 16th century. He was first hired by the musical establishment of St Mark's Basilica on 29 January 1568, along with his two brothers, Giovanni and Nicolò, where they formed the first permanent instrumental ensemble.. The sonorous acoustical environment of this basilica was the center of activity of the Venetians. Giovanni Gabrieli clearly had Dalla Casa's group in mind for much of his music, and the Dalla Casas are presumed to have played in many the elaborate polychoral compositions of the time. In 1572, Dalla Casa served as Venetian agent for the purchase of a large number of wi ...
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