[kan-tl-ee-nuh] 
| a simple, lyric, melodic passage for voice or instrument. |
| can·ti·le·na (kān'tl-ē'nə) n. Music A sustained, smooth-flowing melodic line. [Italian, from Latin cantilēna, song, from cantus; see canticle.] |
cantilena
in late medieval and early Renaissance music, term for certain vocal forms as they were known in the 15th century; also a musical texture used widely in both secular and sacred compositions of that century. Cantilena style is characterized by a predominant vocal top line supported by less complex and usually instrumental tenor and countertenor lines; it occurred both in homophonic, or chordal, music and in polyphonic music having a contrapuntal (interwoven melody) texture
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