Hypolydian mode

Hypolydian mode

The Hypolydian mode, literally meaning 'below Lydian', is a musical mode or diatonic scale of ancient Greece that was based upon the Lydian tetrachord: descending (the way the Greeks always wrote about it), a series of falling intervals of a semitone followed by two whole tones. The rising scale for the octave is a single tone followed by two conjoint Lydian tetrachords. This is the same as playing all the white notes of a piano from F to F: F | G A B C | (C) D E F (ascending, in the modern reckoning). Confusingly, this scale in mediaeval and modern music theory came to be known as the Lydian mode.

The mediaeval music scholars, misunderstanding the Latin texts by Boethius of how the Greek modes were reckoned, used the term "Hypolydian" to describe the sixth mode of church music. This mode is the plagal counterpart of the authentic fifth mode, which Boethius dubbed "Lydian". The ecclesiastical Hypolydian mode is based on the relative scale of 'white notes' from F to F, with the musical dominant, the reciting note, or "tenor" at the major third on the scale (or A, in the F to F scale). The melodic range of the ecclesiastical Hypolydian mode ranges from the perfect fifth below the tonic to the perfect fifth above.


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  • hypolydian mode — “+... noun Etymology: Late Latin hypolydius hypolydian (from Greek hypolydios, from hypo + lydios Lydian) + English an; hypolydian mode, translation of Greek hypolydios tonos 1. : a Greek mode consisting of two disjunct tetrachords represented on …   Useful english dictionary

  • hypolydian mode — /huy poh lid ee euhn, hip oh , huy poh , hip oh /, Music. a plagal church mode represented on the white keys of a keyboard instrument by an ascending scale from C to C, with the final on F. [1835 45; trans. of Gk hypolýdios tónos; see HYPO ,… …   Universalium

  • mode — Synonyms and related words: Aeolian mode, Aristotelian sorites, Dorian mode, Goclenian sorites, Greek modes, Hindu mode, Indian mode, Locrian mode, Lydian mode, MO, Phrygian mode, Platonic form, Platonic idea, SOP, aesthetic form, affectation,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • hypolydian — /hī pō lidˈi ən/ adjective 1. Below the Lydian mode 2. Applied in ancient Greek music to a mode having as its upper tetrachord the lower tetrachord of the Lydian (as: f; g a b c; c d e f) and in old church music to a plagal mode extending from c… …   Useful english dictionary

  • mode — mode1 /mohd/, n. 1. a manner of acting or doing; method; way: modern modes of transportation. 2. a particular type or form of something: Heat is a mode of motion. 3. a designated condition or status, as for performing a task or responding to a… …   Universalium

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  • Gregorian mode — The introit Quasi modo geniti, from which Quasimodo Sunday gets its name, is in Mode 6. A Gregorian mode (or church mode) is one of the eight systems of pitch organization used to describe Gregorian chant. The name of Pope Gregory I was attached… …   Wikipedia

  • Dorian mode — Modern Dorian scale on C  Play (help· …   Wikipedia

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