plainsong

Or plain song

[pleyn-sawng, -song]

noun

1. the unisonous vocal music used in the Christian church from the earliest times.

2. modal liturgical music; Gregorian chant.

3. a cantus firmus or theme chosen for contrapuntal development.

4. any simple and unadorned melody or air.

plainsong

/ ˈpleɪnˌsɒŋ /

noun

1. Also called: plainchant. the style of unison unaccompanied vocal music used in the medieval Church, esp in Gregorian chant

Word History and Origins

Origin of plainsong¹

1505–15; translation of Medieval Latin cantus plānus

Word History and Origins

Origin of plainsong¹

C16: translation of Medieval Latin cantus plānus

Example Sentences

Church music, plainsong music, large choirs — all of that stuff is extremely beautiful, and I wanted to try and get some of that in this record.

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Back and forth, a choir onstage chanted plainsong, answered by another more effusive choir behind the audience.

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Like that wisecrack, Hobson’s style is colloquial throughout; he works in American plainsong even when summoning voices from beyond.

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This writing suggests not so much prose as plainsong—timeless, full of deceptive simplicity, and somehow, in its uncanniness, modal, rather than major or minor.

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St. Martin’s, whose diners are among the most culturally and ethnically diverse, presents a 20-minute, post-meal concert of plainsong and chant called “A Nightcap for the Soul.”

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