A Framework for Elaboration

The bass motions known in Naples as movimenti, and the contrapuntal collocations associated with them, would rarely be presented plainly in a real composition. Apprentice composers needed to learn how to decorate and embellish the plain melodies. Because this usually involved inserting notes with lesser time values, these embellishments could be termed “diminutions.” Lessons from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries present dozens of ways in which to “diminish” a given melody or bass. Counterpoint itself could be thought of as a way of embellishing a given musical subject.