church mode

noun

Music.

1. a mode belonging to a codified system of modes in use in Gregorian chant and in other music to c1600.

church mode

noun

1. music a less common name for mode

Word History and Origins

Origin of church mode¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

Figure 6.11: These modes are part of the same theoretical system as the church modes, but they were not used in the middle ages.

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The church modes, like their Greek forerunners, were ascribed certain moods, and a great deal of theoretical energy was expended over hundreds of years describing their effect and their best possible application.

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Abandoning the idea and becoming absorbed in a passion for ecclesiastical music he went to Berlin to study the ancient church modes.

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While the tonality is still vague, like that of the church modes, the music itself is thoroughly chordal in character, and evidently planned with reference to the direct expression of the text.

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Debussy, through his appreciation of the living value of the old church modes, has been enabled to shape for himself a manner of utterance which derives from none of these influences.

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