(Fr.: ‘moan’, ‘groan’, ‘complaint’).
(1) A term used mainly in French music of the 17th and 18th centuries, or in music of that period in the French style, for a slow, expressive piece of lamenting character; unlike the Tombeau, however, it was not necessarily associated with death. The most celebrated example is perhaps Froberger's Plainte faite à Londres pour passer la melancholi for harpsichord (c1662), which is marked to be played lentement avec discretion, i.e. with a sensitive and expressive rubato such as was also appropriate in the tombeau. Plaintes occur in J.C.F. Fischer's Journal du printems (1695) and Pièces de clavessin (1696), both of which are markedly French in style. The plainte in the former (in DDT, x, 1902/R) occurs in the second suite and makes a feature of passages for three solo instruments alternating with full five-part orchestral writing: this almost gives the impression of an operatic scene in which the chorus intensifies the grief expressed by a group of soloists. François Couperin's Dixième concert (1724) contains a ‘Plainte pour les violes ou autres instrumens’ marked lentement et douloureusement: its effect is achieved largely through slowly reiterated pedal notes in the bass coupled with a languid melody. Pieces with the title Les tendres plaintes occur in Rameau (a rondeau for harpsichord in Pièces de clavecin, 1724) and his contemporary J.-B. Dupuits (for hurdy-gurdy and bass). That by Rameau was used again in his Zoroastre (1749), where it is intended to convey not the gentle pathos which this and other plaintes perhaps now suggest but something much more positive – the mood of Amélite ‘overwhelmed with sadness’. The plaint in Purcell's The Fairy Queen (1692), ‘O let me ever, ever weep’, is introduced by Oberon's words
Sing
me the Plaint that did so Nobly move,
When Laura Mourn'd for her departed Love.
In its use of a chromatic ground bass it borrows a common feature of the Italian lament. These examples show that the term ‘plainte’ is associated not with any specific form but rather with pieces employing particular techniques expressing sadness.
(2) Term used to denote particular ornaments; see Ornaments, §7.
MICHAEL TILMOUTH (1)