SEMICROMA (Lat. Semichroma; Eng. Quaver, or Semiquaver). The Italian name for the Semiquaver. Old writers, however, sometimes apply the term Croma to the Crotchet, and Semicroma to the Quaver; and, so vague was once the distinction between the two, that even Baretti, writing as late as 1824, makes the word ‘Croma
’ signify ‘a Crotchet or Quaver.
’ The etymology of the word Chroma is derived from the very early custom of using red notes intermixed with black ones. The red...
