tonus peregrinus

The two bars of the example are centred on different notes, illustrating the essential quality of tonus peregrinus.

Plainsong chant which, unlike the eight regular psalm tones, had two reciting notes, one in the first half of the chant and another in the second. For this reason it was described as ‘foreign’ and was reserved for the psalm ‘In exitu Israel/When Israel came out of Egypt’. The melody was also sung in the Lutheran church: Bach used it in his Magnificat and also in the cantata Meine Seel' erhebt den Herren (a setting of the German Magnificat).