melisman.

1837 Musical World 15 Dec. 220 No melisma, no chromatic sounds, have been introduced, and the melodies are such as the youthful mind may readily commit to memory.

1862 Dwight's Jrnl. Music 8 Mar. 385/3 All the words, except the last, are sung with great rapidity upon one tone, and upon the last they make a short melisma.

1880 W. S. Rockstro in G. Grove Dict. Music II. 248/2 Melisma Any kind of Air, or Melody, as opposed to Recitative, or other music of a purely declamatory character. Thus, Mendelssohn employs the term in order to distinguish the Mediation and Ending of a Gregorian Tone from the Dominant, or Reciting Note. Other writers sometimes use it (less correctly) in the sense of Fioritura, or even Cadenza.

1912 A. Hammerich Mediæval Music Relics Denmark 1 These tonal series may..develop..into lengthy melismas which twine in rich luxuriance about the fundamental melodic basis.

1938 Oxf. Compan. Music 557/1 The melisma is a feature of eighteenth-century vocal music, often used merely for display purposes but also descriptively and for emotional expression (Handel, ‘Rejoice greatly’ and ‘Thou shalt break them’ in Messiah; Bach in such words as ‘wept’ and ‘scourged’ in his Passions).

1957 Times 22 Oct. 3/1 Some of the tunes were of considerable interest, varying from oriental melismata to a modal melody like an English folksong.

1972 E. T. Sithole in T. Kochman Rappin' & Stylin' Out 70 The black man..appreciates the rhythm of his speech and retains it in his songs by avoiding the melisma (many notes to one syllable of a word), as most of the Negro spirituals illustrate.

2007 Daily Tel. 14 Apr. 10/6 The soaring melismas of the Norwegian jazz saxophonist Jan Garbarek.