Fioritura

Fioritura (Italian for "flourish", or "flowering") is the florid embellishment of melodic lines, either notated by a composer or improvised during a performance. It usually involves lengthy, complex embellishments, as opposed to standardized local ornamental figures such as trills, mordents, or appoggiaturas, and its use is documented as early as the thirteenth century (Da Costa 2002; Jander 2001). The alternative term "coloratura" is less accurate (Steane 1992). It is closely related to the sixteenth-century practice of diminution or division (Randel 2003).