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Definition of Plagal - 3 dictionary results

pla⋅gal

[pley-guhl]
–adjective Music.
(of a Gregorian mode) having the final in the middle of the compass. Compare authentic (def. 5a).

Origin:
1590–1600; < ML plagālis, equiv. to plag(a) plagal mode (appar. back formation from plagius plagal; see plage ) + -ālis -al 1
pla·gal   (plā'gəl)   
adj.   Music
Of or being a medieval mode having a range from the fourth below to the fifth above its final tone.

[Medieval Latin plagālis, from plaga, plagal mode, from plagius, plagal, from Medieval Greek plagios (ēkhos), plagal (mode), from Greek, oblique, from plagos, side; see plāk-1 in Indo-European roots.]

Plagal

Pla"gal\, a. [F., from Gr. ? sidewise, slanting.] (Mus.) Having a scale running from the dominant to its octave; -- said of certain old church modes or tunes, as opposed to those called authentic, which ran from the tonic to its octave.

Plagal cadence, a cadence in which the final chord on the tonic is preceded by the chord on the subdominant.
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