different between melisma vs melismatic

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ??????? (mélisma, “song”), from ?????? (melíz?, “(I) sing, modulate; (I) celebrate in song”), from ????? (mélos, “song, tune, melody; limb, part; member”)

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /m??l?zm?/

Noun

melisma (plural melismas or melismata)

1. (music) A passage of several notes sung to one syllable of text, as in Gregorian chant.
   • 2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre 2008, p. 38:

     At the top of the hill in the archway of the main house, an eyeless old man sat on a bucket, scratching at a two-stringed gourd, warbling weird melismas on a madman's text.

   • 1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:

     A choir sang one of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. The mournful melisma accompanied the slow procession to the palace built by Herod the Great, at present untenanted.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:melisma.

Translations

References

• melisma in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• lammies

Czech

Noun

melisma n

1. (music) melisma

Derived terms

• melismatický
• melismaticky
• melismatika

Further reading

• melisma in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• melisma in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Portuguese

Noun

melisma m (plural melismas)

1. (music) melisma (a passage of several notes sung to one syllable of text)

Spanish

Noun

melisma m (plural melismas)

1. melisma

English

Etymology

melismata +? -ic, also contrued as melisma +? -atic

Adjective

melismatic (comparative more melismatic, superlative most melismatic)

1. (music) Of, relating to, or being a melisma; the style of singing several notes to one syllable of text.
   • 1991, Elizabeth Wichmann, Listening to Theatre: The Aural Dimension of Beijing Opera, University of Hawaii Press, page 92,

     Because slower metrical types are more melismatic and ornamented than primary-meter, their melodic-passages in both xipi and erhuang are more melismatic and complex than those of primary-meter.

   • 1998, Barbara Newman, Introduction, Barbara Newman (translator), Hildegard von Bingen, Symphonia: A Critical Edition of the Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum, Cornell University Press, 2nd Edition, page 28,

     In general, the more melismatic a piece, the more solemn, elaborate, and difficult it is, and the more the text is dominated by the music.

   • 2006, James Grier, The Musical World of a Medieval Monk: Adémar de Chabannes in Eleventh-century Aquitaine, Cambridge University Press, page 358,

     The melismatic content of this chant lies at the extreme of what is typical for responsories, usually considered among the most melismatic chant types.

Usage notes

An attribute of some Islamic and Gregorian chants, as well as of a singing style prevalent in popular music from the early 1990s to the late 2000s.

Coordinate terms

• syllabic
• neumatic

Translations

Further reading

• Melisma on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Polyphony on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• melismatic at OneLook Dictionary Search