countersubject en · NOUN
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Italic *-teros Proto-Italic *komterosder. Proto-Italic *komterād Latin contrāder. Old French contre- Anglo-Norman countre-bor. Middle English counter- English counter- English subject English countersubject From counter- + subject.
Meanings
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The secondary melody in contrapuntal music.
In classical music there are, as the analytical programs tell us, first subjects and second subjects, free fantasias, recapitulations, and codas; there are fugues, with counter-subjects, strettos, and pedal points; there are passacaglias on ground basses, canons ad hypodiapente, and other ingenuities, which have, after all, stood or fallen by their prettiness as much as the simplest folk-tune.
1902 [1898], [George] Bernard Shaw, The Perfect Wagnerite […] , second edition, London: Grant Richards, page 3:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| countersubjects | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| counter-subject | alternative | lexicographic |
Translations (6)
fr contre-sujet (countersubject) · pl kontrtemat (countersubject) · ru противосложе́ние (countersubject) · de Kontrasubjekt (countersubject) · fi kontrasubjekti (countersubject) · it controsoggetto (countersubject)