isorhythm
isorhythm noun: a technique that arranges a fixed pattern of pitches with a repeating rhythmic pattern, used in some medieval motets and in more recent works.
Noun
isorhythm (countable and uncountable, plural isorhythms)
- A technique that arranges a fixed pattern of pitches with a repeating rhythmic pattern, used in some medieval motets and in more recent works.
- In his motets Machaut strove for all-over patterns of rhythmic unity through isorhythms, a system codifying a few set patterns of time value, the number of repetitions of a pattern within a composition depending upon the desired length […]1953, Herbert Weinstock, Music as an art, page 31
- Even when such preconceived structural arrangements are not used, as in the Gloria of the Machaut Mass, the idea of isorhythm is present in the suggestion of recurring and balancing strophic plans.1955, Oscar Lee Rigsby, The Sacred Music of Elzéar Genet: Historical and analytical study
Forms of isorhythm
| plural | isorhythms |
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Origin of isorhythm
Borrowed from German Isorhythmik, coined in 1904 by composer Friedrich Ludwig (1895-1970) (iso- + rhythm).
Words formed from isorhythm
Questions about isorhythm
- What does isorhythm mean?
- Isorhythm means a technique that arranges a fixed pattern of pitches with a repeating rhythmic pattern, used in some medieval motets and in more recent works.
- What part of speech is isorhythm?
- Isorhythm is a noun.
- What is the plural of isorhythm?
- The plural of isorhythm is isorhythms.
Words near isorhythm in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: isorhythm (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “isorhythm.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/isorhythm. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.