‖ cantiˈlena Mus.
[It. or Lat.: see next.]
a. The plain-song or canto-fermo in old church music; the melody or ‘air’ in any composition, now usually the highest part. Also attrib. b. A ballad.
| 1740 Grassineau Mus. Dict. 19 Cantilenæ are no more than songs, and signifies in general pieces of melody well composed. 1775 ‘J. Collier’ Mus. Trav. (ed. 3) 97 My cantilena was often rude. a 1789 Burney Hist. Mus. III. ii 165 The cantilena or principal melody was not given as it is by modern composers to the soprano or highest part. 1832 C. MacFarlane Lives Banditti I. i. 38 They are sung in a sort of recitative, monotonous cantilena style. 1867 Macfarren Harmony i. 20 The people may be said to make their cantilenas in the very act of singing them. 1964 Listener 8 Oct. 558/1 A singer's cantilena style. |