SEMIMINIMA major and minor (Eng. Greater, and Lesser Half-Minim = Crotchet, and Quaver; Ital. Croma e Semicroma; Germ. Viertel und Achtel; French Noire et Croche). Though the Minim was so called, because, at the time of its invention, it was the smallest (i. e. the shortest) of all notes, Composers soon found it convenient to divide it in half, and even into four parts. Franchinus Gafurius, quoting from Prosdocimus de Beldemandis, describes and figures these divisions in his ‘Practica Musicae,...
