| 释义 |
plain-song Mus.|ˈpleɪnsɒŋ|
[Rendering med.L. cantus plānus, F. plain chant, It. canto piano: see quot. 1895 in sense 1.]
1. The form of vocal music believed to have been used in the Christian Church from the earliest times, consisting of melodies composed in the mediæval modes (see mode) and in free rhythm depending on the accentuation of the words, and sung in unison; in the West it was first systematized in the 4th century by St. Ambrose, and further developed in the 6th century by St. Gregory the Great: see Ambrosian, Gregorian.
1513in Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc. VI. 362 Chapellanis that has vnderstandyng to syng plane sang, priket sang, and to do seruice efter the tenour of his foundation. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 41, I wysshe..that the laudable custome of Englande to teache chyldren their plainesong and priksong, were not so decayed. 1706A. Bedford Temple Mus. iii. 62 The first..Performance was done..by Plain Song; as the Psalms are..read in Cathedrals. 1878Stainer in Queen's Printers' Bible-Aids 67 The tendency of recitation to develope into monotone and an irregular chant..is illustrated by the history of ‘plain song’ in the early Christian Church. 1895H. B. Briggs in Elem. Plainsong 1 Plainsong or Cantus planus—even, level, plain song—is perfectly distinct from cantus figuratus, or mensuratus, i.e. harmonised, measured music, from which it essentially differs in tonality and rhythm... In plainsong the accents occur irregularly, thus making the rhythm free, but subject to certain laws of proportion which satisfy the ear.
2. A simple melody or theme; often accompanied by a running melody or ‘descant’ (see descant n. 1); hence in various fig. applications. Obs. or Hist.
a1566R. Edwards Damon & Pithias in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 27 Without mention of them [ladies] you can make no sport: They are your plain-song to sing descant upon. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. 70 When a man talketh of a Descanter, it must be vnderstood of one that can extempore sing a part upon a playnesong. 1597[see counterpoint n.1 2]. 1659H. Thorndike Wks. (1846) II. 610 Ecclesiasticus..descants indeed upon Solomon's plain song in the eighth and ninth of the Proverbs. 1674Playford Skill Mus. i. v. 21 Here followeth the three usual Plain Songs for Tuning the Voice in the Ascending and Descending of Notes.
3. attrib.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. i. 134 The Finch, the Sparrow, and the Larke, The plainsong Cuckow gray. a1646J. Gregory Disc. Nicene Creed Posthuma (1649) 53 The same Creed hath been most certainly sung..in a plain song-fashion, ever since the date of the Councel [of Nice] itself. |