submediantn.adj.
/ˌsʌbˈmiːdɪənt/, U.S. /ˌsəbˈmidiənt/ Music.
A. n.
The sixth note of a scale, lying midway between the subdominant and the upper tonic.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > system of sounds or intervals > [noun] > diatonic scale series > notes in diatonic scale
keya1450
seventh1591
fifth1597
final1609
octave1656
sub-octave1659
keynote1677
mediant1721
sensible note?1775
subdominant?1775
submediant?1775
medius1782
leading note1786
nominal1786
subsemitone1799
superdominant1806
supertonic1806
tonic1806
subtonic1817
dominant1823
sensitive note1845
nominal note1884
?1775 W. Waring tr. J.-J. Rousseau Dict. Music 251 If we vary the third as we have the fifth, and take that third below the tonic on the sixth note la, which we ought also to call sub-mediant, or mediant below [Fr. sous-Médiante ou Médiante en dessous], we shall form on this la a modulation more analogous to the principal tone than was that of mi.
1806 J. W. Callcott Musical Gram. ii. v. 135 The submediant..varies also according to the Mode.
1889 E. Prout Harmony i. 16 We..call this sixth note the Submediant, or lower mediant.
1934 Musical Times 75 935/2 The sharp submediant in the minor is pronounced ‘bay’.
1989 Jrnl. Musicol. 7 ii. 246 The lowered third degree of the scale..is harmonized in the orchestra by an unexpected cadence on the submediant of the minor mode.
2010 R. McClelland Brahms & Scherzo vi. 241 Harmonically, these measures include a digressive foray into the submediant.
B. adj.
Designating, relating to, or characteristic of the submediant.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > system of sounds or intervals > [adjective] > diatonic scale > notes of
tonic1761
subdominant1803
dominant1813
submediant1851
superdominant1864
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > harmony or sounds in combination > chord > [adjective] > other chords
minor1797
submediant1889
diminished chord1949
1851 H. Doherty in J. R. Morell tr. C. Fourier Passions Human Soul I. p. x (table) Re, or sub-mediant note.
1889 E. Prout Harmony xii. 131 The submediant chord in the minor key.
1932 Music & Lett. 13 18 One of the rushing scales in the finale..starts, rather dramatically but erroneously, on a submediant, instead of a tonic, foundation.
1963 Times 27 Dec. 4/7 Submediant switches from C major into A flat major..are a trademark of Lennon-McCartney songs.__
2007 Gawker (Nexis) 12 Oct. The stately opening chords of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings..greet us not with the C-major tonic but with a submediant A minor chord.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.?1775