superiusn.

1653 Ld. Brouncker tr. R. Descartes Excellent Compend. Musick 52 Superius is the most Acute voice, and is opposed to Bassus, so that by contrary motions they frequently occur to each other.

1776 J. Hawkins Gen. Hist. Music II. i. vii. 86 Quinible..may rather mean a high part.., which in general lies above the tenor..and at others between the contretenor and the superius or treble.

1786 T. Busby Compl. Dict. Music Superius,..the name by which the contrapuntists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries distinguished the upper part of any composition.

1876 J. Stainer & W. A. Barrett Dict. Musical Terms 412/1 Superius,..a name given to the upper part in a composition by the writers of the sixteenth century.

1886 J. H. Cornell tr. W. Langhans Hist. Music in Twelve Lect. 46 The third, highest voice was called Triplum..and the fourth, additional voice, Quadruplum. The two..are, however, occasionally called..Superius and Contra-tenor.

1907 Grove's Dict. Music (ed. 2) III. 631/1 ‘Le Parangon des Chansons’..in nine volumes..so arranged that the Superius and Tenor sit facing each other..—the Superius reading from the lower half of the left-hand page, and the Tenor from the upper half.

1977 Early Music 5 243/3 Surely..the superius should cadence on C with the other voices.

2005 J. Harley W. Byrd's Modal Pract. v. 69 In general, the ranges of the four fundamental parts (‘superius’ or ‘cantus’, ‘altus’, ‘tenor’ and ‘bassus’) alternate, and any extra part..shares the range of one of them.