English cadence

English

Etymology

From English +‎ cadence. Coined in the 20th century due to its popularity with composers of the English Renaissance of the late 15th to the early 17th centuries.

Noun

English cadence (plural English cadences)

1. (music) A perfect cadence characteristic of English Renaissance music, involving a flattened seventh note played against the dominant chord (containing a regular raised seventh); conventionally, the flattened seventh is played as part of a suspension on the penultimate beat, before resolving downwards to the sixth and then fifth of the final chord, while the raised seventh is held before resolving upward to the first; however, more complex variations are also possible.

Examples
A typical English cadence in C major, involving a B♭ that resolves to A followed by G, suspended on the third beat against a B♮ that resolves to C: A more complex example in G major, from the end of William Byrd's Browning à 5: