cantus
Americannoun
plural
cantusnoun
-
a medieval form of church singing; chant
-
Also called: canto. the highest part in a piece of choral music
-
(in 15th- or 16th-century music) a piece of choral music, usually secular, in polyphonic style
Etymology
Origin of cantus
From Latin, dating back to 1580–90; canto
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.
Each section is built on a simple cantus firmus — a brief, unharmonized chant — around which a rich, involving six-part harmonic fabric is woven.
From New York Times • Apr. 3, 2011
The album of folk-inspired Christmas music, a welcome change from today's homogenized carols, ranges from a 12th century Latin tune, Ad cantus leticie, to a rousing Gloucestershire Wassail from modern Britain.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mille per excurrens variae discrimina vocis, Venturi specimen praefert argutula cantus.
From The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume II (of 2) by Crashaw, Richard
All the devices of counterpoint, with their two, three and four tones of the moving voice against one of the cantus fermus, were so many incitations in the direction of melodic cleverness.
From A Popular History of the Art of Music From the Earliest Times Until the Present by Mathews, W. S. B. (William Smythe Babcock)
Cantilena, kan-ti-lē′na, n. a ballad or light song: a cantus firmus or melody for church use: a singing exercise or solfeggio.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
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.
