Landini cadence
DEFINITION
(under-third cadence) an elaboration on the standard polyphonic sixth-to-octave cadence in which the top line adds an ornamental note a third beneath the cadential pitch before both voices expand outward to an octave; the top voice might approach a C cadence with the pitches B-A-C (over the lower voice's descent from D to C). Named after the Italian composer Francesco Landini (1325-97), but used frequently by other fourteenth- and fifteenth-century composers as well. the melodic cadence that moves in the sequence 7-6-8, used primarily by Francesco Landini, and later by other composers