Ricercate, passaggi et cadentie

Ricercate, passaggi et cadentie per potersi essercitar nel diminuir terminatamente con ogni sorte d’istrumento; et anco diversi passaggi per la semplice voce (Ricercars, passages and cadences to facilitate practicing accomplished diminutions on all kinds of instruments; and also various passages for just the voice) is a didactic work written by Giovanni Bassano.

Each of the first three sections is presented in different modes and focuses on a different technique of ornamentation when transcribing vocal works for instruments.

[2] The book consists of eight ricercate, forty-five passaggi with up to eight diminuiti each, eight basic cadentie (cadences), with up to ten diminutions each, and concludes with two different ornamented versions of the upper voice of Signor mio caro by Cipriano de Rore, from his First Book of Madrigals for four voices (1550).

The smallest subdivision is the thirty-second note (bissicroma), a symbol that Bassano takes pains to explain in his preface "Ai lettori" (to the readers): "intenderete in questa mia opera quadruplicata cioè trentadue al valor de una Semibreve" ("meant [to represent] in this, my work, a quadruplicata, which is to say thirty-two to the value of one whole note"),[3] but most modern interpretations of the piece play the eighth notes faster[clarification needed] depending on how many are written into a measure.

Each piece progresses from a simple, slow melody to very fast and quick scalar runs that can span several octaves.