Phrygian mode

American  

noun

Music.

1. an authentic church mode represented on the white keys of a keyboard instrument by an ascending scale from E to E.

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Etymology

Origin of Phrygian mode

First recorded in 1800–10

Example Sentences

Recurring throughout is an ascending phrase in the Phrygian mode – a scale Vaughan Williams detected repeatedly in English folk music.

From The Guardian • Jun. 11, 2010

But despite its hints at the shift from modes to keys, Miserere mei is still framed within the medieval Phrygian mode, often noted for its air of melancholy.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Athenaeus quotes the same passage from Theophrastus, with this additional circumstance, that, as to the second of these disorders, to render the cure more certain, the flute should play in the Phrygian mode.

From Thaumaturgia by Oxonian, An

Phrygian mode, 23; Brahms's use of, 239. pianoforte, the, account of its characteristics, 189-195. plagal cadence, 55. polka, 75, 321. polonaise, 75. polyphonic, 10. polyphonic music, complete account of, 33-49.

From Music: An Art and a Language by Spalding, Walter Raymond

Now the martial concert began, and the music was above a hemiole the quicker, according to the warlike Phrygian mode, such as was invented by Marsyas.

From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 5 by Motteux, Peter Anthony