Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice (monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony).
In the Western musical tradition, the term polyphony is usually used to refer to music of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Baroque forms such as fugue, which might be called polyphonic, are usually described instead as contrapuntal. Also, as opposed to the species terminology of counterpoint, polyphony was generally either "pitch-against-pitch" (sometimes called "point-against-point") or a sustained-pitch in one part with melismas in another.Hendrik van der Werf (1997). "Early Western polyphony", Companion to Medieval & Renaissance Music. Oxford University Press. . In all cases the concept was probably what Margaret Bent (1999) calls "dyadic counterpoint",Margaret Bent (1999). "The Grammar of Early Music: Preconditions for Analysis", Tonal Structures of Early Music. New York: Garland Publishing. . with each part being written generally against one other part, with parts modified at the end if necessary. This point-against-point concept is opposed to "successive composition", where voices were written in an order with each new voice fitting into the previous construction.
The term polyphony is also sometimes used more broadly, to describe any musical texture that is not monophonic. Such a perspective considers homophony as a sub-type of polyphony.
Antecedents Polyphony in traditional music has a wide, if uneven, distribution among the peoples of the world. Most polyphonic regions of the world are in sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and Oceania. There are two contradictory approaches to explaining the origins of vocal polyphony: the Cultural Model and the Evolutionary Model. According to the Cultural Model, the origins of polyphony are connected to the development of human musical culture; polyphony came about as the natural development of primordial monophonic singing; this leads to polyphonic traditions gradually replacing monophonic traditions.Bruno Nettl. Polyphony in North American Indian music. Musical Quarterly, 1961, 47:354–62 According to the Evolutionary Model, polyphonic singing is connected to earlier stages of human evolution, as an important part of a hominid defence system, and traditions of polyphony are gradually disappearing all over the world.
Origins of written polyphony
Although the exact origins of polyphony in the Western church traditions are unknown, the treatises and , both from , are usually considered the oldest extant written examples of polyphony. These treatises provided examples of two-voice note-against-note embellishments of chants using parallel octaves, fifths, and fourths. Rather than being fixed works, they indicated ways of improvising polyphony during performance. The Winchester Troper, from , is generally considered to be the oldest extant example of notated polyphony for chant performance, although the notation does not indicate precise pitch levels or durations.Riemann, Hugo. History of music theory, books I and II: polyphonic theory to the sixteenth century, Book 1. Da Capo Press. June 1974. A two-part antiphon to Saint Boniface recently discovered in the British Library, is thought to have originated in a monastery in north-west Germany and may be earlier, having been dated to the early tenth century.
European polyphony
Historical context European polyphony rose out of melismatic , the earliest harmonization of the chant. During the 12th century, composers such as Léonin and Pérotin developed the that had been introduced centuries earlier, and added a third and fourth voice to the now homophonic chant. In the 13th century, the chant-based tenor was becoming altered, fragmented, and hidden beneath secular tunes, obscuring the sacred texts, as composers continued to develop polyphonic techniques. The lyrics of love poems might be sung above sacred texts in the form of a trope, or the sacred text might be placed within a familiar secular melody. The oldest surviving piece of six-part music is the English rota ().Albright, Daniel (2004). Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources. University of Chicago Press. .
Western Europe and Roman Catholicism European polyphony rose prior to, and during the period of the Western Schism. Avignon, the seat of popes and then antipopes, was a vigorous center of secular music-making, much of which influenced sacred polyphony.Riemann, Hugo. History of music theory, books I and II: polyphonic theory to the sixteenth century, Book 2. Da Capo Press. June 1974.
The notion of secular and sacred music merging in the papal court also offended some medieval ears. It gave church music more of a jocular performance quality supplanting the solemnity of worship they were accustomed to. The use of and attitude toward polyphony varied widely in the Avignon court from the beginning to the end of its religious importance in the 14th century.
Harmony was considered frivolous, impious, lascivious, and an obstruction to the audibility of the words. Instruments, as well as certain modes, were actually forbidden in the church because of their association with secular music and pagan rites. After banishing polyphony from the Liturgy in 1322, Pope John XXII warned against the unbecoming elements of this musical innovation in his 1324 bull . In contrast Pope Clement VI indulged in it.
The oldest extant polyphonic setting of the mass attributable to one composer is Guillaume de Machaut's , dated to 1364, during the pontificate of Pope Urban V. The Second Vatican Council said Gregorian chant should be the focus of liturgical services, without excluding other forms of sacred music, including polyphony.Vatican II, Constitution on the Liturgy, 112–18
Notable works and composers Tomás Luis de Victoria William Byrd, Mass for Five Voices Thomas Tallis, Orlandus Lassus, Guillaume de Machaut, Geoffrey ChaucerSee Jonathan Fruoco's work on Chaucer's polyphony: Chaucer's Polyphony and Polyphony and the Modern. Jacob Obrecht Palestrina, Josquin des Prez, Gregorio Allegri,
Protestant Britain and the United States English Protestant west gallery music included polyphonic multi-melodic harmony, including fuguing tunes, by the mid-18th century. This tradition passed with emigrants to North America, where it was proliferated in tunebooks, including shape-note books like The Southern Harmony and The Sacred Harp. While this style of singing has largely disappeared from British and North American sacred music, it survived in the rural Southern United States, until it again began to grow a following throughout the United States and even in places such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, and Australia, among others.
Balkan region
Polyphonic singing is traditional folk singing of this part of southern Europe. It is also called ancient, archaic or old-style singing.
Byzantine chant Ojkanje singing, in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina Ganga singing, in Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnian root music in the Podrinje region of Bosnia and Herzegovina Epirote singing, in northern Greece and southern Albania (see below) Iso-polyphony, in southern Albania (see below) Gusle singing, in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Albania Izvika singing, in Serbia Dvuglas singing in Southern Bulgaria: woman choirs in Shopluk (Bistritsa Babi) and in Rhodopes (Nedelino), as well as men choirs in Bansko, Pirin MacedoniaАлександър Заралиев, Двугласът в българския фолклор, Младежка историческа общност, 08.03.2013.
Incipient polyphony (previously primitive polyphony) includes antiphony and call and response, drones, and parallel intervals.
Balkan drone music is described as polyphonic due to Balkan musicians using a literal translation of the Greek ('many voices'). In terms of Western classical music, it is not strictly polyphonic, due to the drone parts having no melodic role, and can better be described as multipart. A free, unpublished version of this passage is available on Google Books.
The polyphonic singing tradition of Epirus is a form of traditional folk polyphony practiced among Aromanians, Albanians, Greeks, Bulgarians and ethnic Macedonians in southern Albania and northwestern Greece.Bart Plantenga. Yodel-ay-ee-oooo. Routledge, 2004. , p. 87 Albania: "Singers in Pogoni region perform a style of polyphony that is also practised by locals in Vlach and Slav communities [in Albania]."Engendering Song: Singing and Subjectivity at Prespa by Jane C. Sugarman, 1997, , p. 356, "Neither of the polyphonic textures characteristic of south Albanian singing is unique to Albanians. The style is shared with Greeks in the Northwestern district of Epirus (see Fakiou and Romanos 1984) while the Tosk style is common among Aromanian communities from the Kolonje region of Albania the so-called Farsherotii (see Lortat-Jacob and Bouet 1983) and among Slavs of the Kastoria region of Northern Greece (see N.Kaufamann 1959 ). Macedonians in the lower villages of the Prespa district also formerly sang this style " This type of folk vocal tradition is also found in North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
Albanian polyphonic singing can be divided into two major stylistic groups as performed by the Tosks and Labs of southern Albania. The drone is performed in two ways: among the Tosks, it is always continuous and sung on the syllable 'e', using staggered breathing; while among the Labs, the drone is sometimes sung as a rhythmic tone, performed to the text of the song. It can be differentiated between two-, three- and four-voice polyphony.
In Aromanian music, polyphony is common, and polyphonic music follows a set of common rules.
The phenomenon of Albanian folk iso-polyphony (Albanian iso-polyphony) has been proclaimed by UNESCO a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity". The term iso refers to the drone, which accompanies the iso-polyphonic singing and is related to the ison of Byzantine church music, where the drone group accompanies the song.European voices: Multipart singing in the Balkans and the ..., Volume 1 By Ardian Ahmedaja, Gerlinde Haid p. 241
Corsica
The French island of Corsica has a unique style of music called that is known for its polyphony. Traditionally, Paghjella contains a staggered entrance and continues with the three singers carrying independent melodies. This music tends to contain much melisma and is sung in a nasal temperament. Additionally, many paghjella songs contain a picardy third. After paghjella's revival in the 1970s, it mutated. In the 1980s it had moved away from some of its more traditional features as it became much more heavily produced and tailored towards western tastes. There were now four singers, significantly less melisma, it was much more structured, and it exemplified more homophony. To the people of Corsica, the polyphony of paghjella represented freedom; it had been a source of cultural pride in Corsica and many felt that this movement away from the polyphonic style meant a movement away from paghjella's cultural ties. This resulted in a transition in the 1990s. Paghjella again had a strong polyphonic style and a less structured meter.
Sardinia Cantu a tenore is a traditional style of polyphonic singing in Sardinia.
Caucasus region
Georgia