cantilena
[kan-tl-ee-nuh]
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noun
a simple, lyric, melodic passage for voice or instrument.
Origin of cantilena
1730–40; < Italian < Latin cantilēna refrain, perhaps by dissimilation from *cantilēla, derivative of cantus song; see cant1
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Examples from the Web for cantilena
Historical Examples of cantilena
At the first cantilena on the strings I nearly jumped out of my seat.
Contemporary American ComposersRupert Hughes
A man can sing a 'cantilena' in the fields, but in church it is the women who sing.
CorleoneF. Marion Crawford
The second movement in six-eight rhythm, is another specimen of the Italian Cantilena.
Nicolo Paganini: His Life and WorkStephen Samuel Stratton
The cantabile slow movement, modeled somewhat after the Italian cantilena, was his.
A Popular History of the Art of MusicW. S. B. Mathews
A similar freely riming poem in lines of seven syllables is Villegas' Cantilena (p. 17).
Modern Spanish LyricsVarious
cantilena
noun
Word Origin for cantilena
C18: Italian, from Latin cantilēna a song
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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