† disdiaˈpason Mus. Obs.
[a. L. disdiapāsōn, a. Gr. δίς διὰ πασῶν ‘twice through all (the chords)’, a double octave in music: see diapason.]
The interval of a double octave; a fifteenth; (in quot. 1760) the compass or range of notes included within the same.
| 1609 Douland Ornith. Microl. 21 Disdiapason, is an Interuall by a Fifteenth, occasioned..by a quadruple proportion. 1651 J. F[reake] Agrippa's Occ. Philos. 259 Sol obtains the melody of the octave voice viz. Diapason; in like manner by fifteen Tones, a Disdiapason. 1760 Phil. Trans. LI. 702 The lyre..took in the compass of a disdiapason, or double octave. 1774 Burney Hist. Mus. (1789) I. i. 3 It was the opinion of the ancients that this disdiapason or double octave was the greatest interval which could be received in melody. |