This article is about the use of ambitus in the Middle Ages. For other uses, see Vocal range.
Range of a bassoon

In medieval music, ambitus (Ecclesiastical Latin: ['am.bi.tฬชus]) is a Latin term literally meaning enclos[ur]e, and in Medieval Latin means the "range" of a melodic line, most usually referring to the range of scale degrees attributed to a given mode, particularly in Gregorian chant. In Gregorian chant specifically, the ambitus is the range, or the distance between the highest and lowest note. Different chants vary widely in their ambitus. Even relatively florid chants like Alleluias may have a narrow ambitus. Earlier writers termed the modal ambitus "perfect" when it was a ninth or tenth (that is, an octave plus one or two notes, either at the top or bottom or both), but from the late fifteenth century onward "perfect ambitus" usually meant one octave, and the ambitus was called "imperfect" when it was less, and "pluperfect" when it was more than an octave.[1]

All of the church modes are distinguished in part by their ambitus.[2] The plagal modes have the final in the middle of the ambitus, while the authentic modes generally go no more than one note below the final.

Ambitus may also mean the range of a voice, of an instrument, or more generally, of an entire piece of music,[1][2] and describes its pitch extremes. For example, the ambitus of the concert grand piano may be given as A0-C8, where A0 is 27.5 Hz. Unlike the terms register and tessitura, ambitus does not refer to how notes are used in a piece.

References

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  1. ^ a b Powers, Harold S.; Sherr, Richard; Wierling, Frans (2001). Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). "Ambitus". Grove Music Online. London: Macmillan Publisher. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.00744. ISBNย 978-1-56159-263-0. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
  2. ^ a b Randel, Don Michael (2003). The Harvard Dictionary of Music. Don Michael Randel (4thย ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBNย 0-674-01163-5. OCLCย 52623743.


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Medieval music

(or finalis), the reciting tone (tenor or confinalis), and the range (or ambitus). The finalis is the tone that serves as the focal point for the mode and

Glossary of music terminology

heavier, stronger tone); see sul ponticello amabile Amiable, pleasant ambitus (Lat.) Range between highest and lowest note amore or amor (Sp./Port.,

Mode (music)

sideways"). In both cases, the strict ambitus of the mode is one octave. A melody that remains confined to the mode's ambitus is called "perfect"; if it falls

Gregorian chant

Ambitus refers to the range of pitches used in the melody. Melodies whose final is in the middle of the ambitus, or which have only a limited ambitus

Index of music articles

scale Ambrosian chant Ambitus (music) American Music Awards Amoebaean singing Amusia Anacrusis Ancient Celtic music Ancient music Andalusian cadence Andalusian

Register (music)

using special keys and not the standard tone holes used for other notes. Ambitus Chest register Head register Organ stop and organ registration Tessitura

Tessitura

part of a musical piece. Hence, in musical notation, tessitura is the ambitus, or a narrower part of it, in which that particular vocal (or less often

Mixolydian mode

up one octave to the G above, or as a mode whose final was G and whose ambitus runs from the F below the final to the G above, with possible extensions