canto fermo
Britishnoun
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a melody that is the basis to which other parts are added in polyphonic music
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the traditional plainchant as prescribed by use and regulation in the Christian Church
Etymology
Origin of canto fermo
Italian, from Medieval Latin, literally: fixed song
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The voices of common sense and of high philosophy sometimes cross; but common sense is the unalterable canto fermo and philosophy is the variable counterpoint.
From The Note-Books of Samuel Butler by Butler, Samuel
In life we have destiny from which there is no escape; in counterpoint we have the canto fermo of which not a note may be altered.
From Castellinaria and Other Sicilian Diversions by Jones, Henry Festing
There is really nothing in these art-forms which is not continuous with the universal practice of writing counterpoint on a canto fermo.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 3 "Chitral" to "Cincinnati" by Various
She and her husband tuned their scythes in two-part, note-against-note counterpoint; but I could hear that it was she who was the canto fermo and he who was the counterpoint.
From The Note-Books of Samuel Butler by Butler, Samuel
He exercised his contrapuntal ingenuity by devising schemes for circumventing this troublesome passage in the canto fermo of his life without breaking any of the rules, and finally hit upon the device of running away.
From Castellinaria and Other Sicilian Diversions by Jones, Henry Festing
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
