Reduced

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The adjective diminished (opposite: excessively ) is used in music to denote certain intervals and chords .

Decreased intervals

Intervals are called diminished if they are a chromatic semitone smaller than the pure intervals (octave, fifth, fourth) or as the small intervals (small form of second, third, sixth, seventh; an excessive, but do not form a diminished variant, as changing one of its tones inevitably leads to an enlargement.)

Decreased intervals, like excessive intervals, belong to the chromatic intervals .

With the exception of the diminished fifth, diminished intervals can be confused with diatonic intervals enharmonically . Examples:

  • the diminished fourth  c sharp-f results in enharmonically confusing the major third d flat  -f
  • the diminished octave  c-ces corresponds to the major seventh  ch
  • the diminished second  c-deses corresponds to the prime cc .

The complementary intervals that add diminished intervals to the octave are excessive. For example, the complementary interval of the diminished fifth  c-gb is the augmented fourth  g-flat c .

Diminished chords

Some chords are also called diminished . In contrast to intervals, however, it is not possible to generally define for chords when the word diminished occurs in their names :

  • the inclusion of a diminished interval is not always enough to give a chord the nickname "diminished"; for example, the dominant seventh chord is not called “diminished”, although it contains a diminished fifth.
  • conversely, it can happen that a chord is called "diminished" even though it does not contain a diminished interval; z. B. The diminished sixth chord is so named because it is an inversion of the diminished triad; however, it does not itself contain a diminished interval, but instead even contains an excessive fourth.

The designation “reduced” can therefore only be justified individually for each individual case.

Some examples of diminished chords (each based on the note c):

literature

  • Reduced. In: Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 8: Štich - Zylis-Gara. Updated special edition. Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 1987, ISBN 3-451-20948-9 , p. 256.
  • Reduced. In: Willibald Gurlitt , Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (Ed.): Riemann Music Lexicon. Material part. 12th, completely revised edition. B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1967, p. 1023.
  • Reinhard Amon: Lexicon of harmony. Reference work on major minor harmony with analysis codes for functions, levels and jazz chords . 2nd, completely revised and expanded edition. Doblinger et al., Vienna et al. 2015, ISBN 978-3-902667-56-4 .