CANTUS FIRMUS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A pre-existing melody used as the basis for a polyphonic composition; originally drawn from plainchant, but later drawn from other sources

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("cantus firmus" is a kind of...):

chant (a repetitive song in which as many syllables as necessary are assigned to a single tone)

Credits