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[1] 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.

A theme and some possible divisions. Play 

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.[2] Simpson gives a lengthy explanation of the art of free improvisation over an ostinato bass-line in his book The Division Viol (1665).

See also

References

  1. "Uniform Titles for Library Cataloguing". Yale University. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  2. "Track Listing of Recording of Ayres and Divisions by William Lawes, Simpson, Jenkins and Purcell". Signum Records. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2008-01-29.


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