Ru
EnV. Leonov, I. Palkina
Diminutions and cadences (from the history of decorations in music)
Diminutions and cadences are related embellishments in music, due to their improvisa-tional origin. Both are based on the variation of a given theme. Hence, there is some confusion of their concepts in performance practice, which necessitates turning to the history of the formation and evolution of these embellishments in music, relying mainly on written sources of past centuries. The work is addressed to musicians-performers and teachers-instrumentalists.
Usually, diminutions are associated with the tradition of baroque basso continuo. However, thousands of examples of this kind of variation of musical material contained in the work of S. Ganassi, created in 1535, serve as evidence that the ornaments of basso continuo were based on the foundation laid in the musical art earlier. Ganassi’s diminutions were a kind of building material for improvisations or the creation of variations.
The article highlights the views of the English composer and violist Ch. Simpson, who created a theoretical basis for the diminutions of the bass and solo voices in Baroque music. It is indicated that in the 18th century basso continuo gradually lost its position in music and diminutions turned into one of the means of decorating the melody, to which many pages are devoted in the fundamental work of J. J. Quantz.
The concept of cadence has existed for many centuries, having become established in the fundamental theory of music in the 18th century. In an applied form, it arose only at the end of the 17th century in the form of a trill, gruppetto or passage. And in the sequel the cadence ad libitum appeared, gradually increasing in size.
The reasons for the multiplicity of existing cadences to works are highlighted. The opti-mization in thefield of making cadences, carried out by J. B. Arban, is noted.
Key words
diminution, performing art of the 17th–18th centuries, cadence, S. Ganassi, Ch. Simpson, J. J. Quantz, J. B. Arban.
For citation
Leonov V., Palkina I. Diminutions and cadences (from the history of decorations in music). In: South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2026. No. 2. Pp. 37–43.
