Ayre
1) A late 16th- and early 17th-century type
of English song. It was primarily a solo
song accompanied by the lute (occasionally the virginal),
often with the lowest part doubled by a bass viol. In many
cases the composers provided for an alternative vocal accompaniment, printed
separately on the opposite page so that the parts could be read simultaneously
by three singers seated. The ayres range from
serious songs, often through-composed, to light and gay tunes, usually
strophic.
2) In the 17th century, a movement of a
suite.
3) English writers of the 17th century use the term ayre (aire)
in the sense of key or mode.