plagal mode

noun

: a church mode (such as Hypophrygian or Hypomixolydian) with the same final (see final entry 2 sense c) as its parallel authentic mode but with an ambitus a fourth lower

A plagal mode is found a fourth below its authentic, and the final of the authentic serves also for the plagal.

—Rupert Hughes, The Musical Guide, 1903

compare authentic mode see church mode illustration

Word History

First Known Use

1721, in the meaning defined above

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