47-450: Polyphony ( / p ə ˈ l ɪ f ə n i / pə- LIF -ə-nee ) 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 ). Within the context of the Western musical tradition, the term polyphony
94-518: A dominant seventh chord (or "V7 chord"). Classical composers who turned their hand to the round format include Thomas Arne , John Blow , William Byrd , Henry Purcell , Moondog (Louis Hardin), Joseph Haydn , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Ludwig van Beethoven , and Benjamin Britten (for example, "Old Joe Has Gone Fishing", sung by the villagers in the pub to keep the peace, at the end of act 1 of Peter Grimes ) . Examples by J. S. Bach include
141-459: A male falsetto singer. Some of these songs are linked to the cult of the grapevine and many date back to the eighth century. The songs traditionally pervaded all areas of everyday life, ranging from work in the fields (the Naduri, which incorporates the sounds of physical effort into the music) to songs to curing of illnesses and to Christmas Carols (Alilo). Byzantine liturgical hymns also incorporated
188-532: A melody whose end leads back to the beginning, allowing easy and immediate repetition. Often, "the final cadence is the same as the first measure". The term "round" first appears in English in the early 16th century, though the form was found much earlier. In medieval England, they were called rota or rondellus . Later, an alternative term was "roundel" (e.g., David Melvill's manuscript Ane Buik off Roundells , Aberdeen, 1612). Special types of rounds are
235-423: A popular musical tradition. They were particularly favoured in glee clubs, which combined amateur singing with regular drinking. The earliest known rounds date from 12th-century Europe. One characteristic of rounds is that, "there is no fixed ending", in the sense that they may be repeated as many times as possible, although many do have "fixed" endings, often indicated by a fermata . " Row, Row, Row Your Boat "
282-403: A somewhat different form from today's children's round: Play Three Blinde Mice, three Blinde Mice, Dame Iulian, Dame Iulian, The Miller and his merry olde Wife, shee scrapte her tripe licke thou the knife. The canon, or rule, of a simple round is that each voice enters after a set interval of time, at the same pitch, using the same notes. Rounds work because after the melody
329-407: Is a musical composition , a limited type of canon , in which multiple voices sing exactly the same melody , but with each voice beginning at different times so that different parts of the melody coincide in the different voices, but nevertheless fit harmoniously together. It is one of the easiest forms of part singing , as only one line of melody need be learned by all singers, and is part of
376-429: Is a well-known children's round for four voices. Other well-known examples are " Frère Jacques ", " Three Blind Mice ", " Kookaburra ", and, more recently, the outro of " God Only Knows " by The Beach Boys . A catch is a round in which a phrase that is not apparent in a single line of lyrics emerges when the lyrics are split between the different voices. Rounds that fall into the category of "perpetual canon" feature
423-567: 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
470-437: 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. Traditional (non-professional) polyphony 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. It is believed that the origins of polyphony in traditional music vastly predate
517-601: Is common in Svaneti; polyphonic dialogue over a bass background, prevalent in the Kakheti region in Eastern Georgia; and contrasted polyphony with three partially improvised sung parts, characteristic of western Georgia. The Chakrulo song, which is sung at ceremonies and festivals and belongs to the first category, is distinguished by its use of metaphor and its yodel, the krimanchuli and a "cockerel’s crow", performed by
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#1732801977064564-577: Is described as polyphonic due to Balkan musicians using a literal translation of the Greek polyphōnos ('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 . The polyphonic singing tradition of Epirus is a form of traditional folk polyphony practiced among Aromanians , Albanians, Greeks, and ethnic Macedonians in southern Albania and northwestern Greece. This type of folk vocal tradition
611-425: Is divided into equal-sized blocks of a few measures each, corresponding notes in each block either are the same, or are different notes in the same chord . This is easiest with one chord, as in "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". Play melody A new part can join the singing by starting at the beginning whenever another part reaches any asterisk in the above music. If one ignores the eighth notes that pass between
658-420: 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
705-429: 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" / "point-against-point" or "sustained-pitch" in one part with melismas of varying lengths in another. In all cases
752-411: The organum that had been introduced centuries earlier, and also 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
799-696: The Republic of Georgia is arguably the oldest polyphony in the Christian world. Georgian polyphony is traditionally sung in three parts with strong dissonances, parallel fifths, and a unique tuning system based on perfect fifths. Georgian polyphonic singing has been proclaimed by UNESCO an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Popular singing has a highly valued place in Georgian culture. There are three types of polyphony in Georgia: complex polyphony, which
846-654: The Wagogo use counterpoint. The music of African Pygmies (e.g. that of the Aka people ) is typically ostinato and contrapuntal, featuring yodeling . Other Central African peoples tend to sing with parallel lines rather than counterpoint. In Burundi, rural women greet each other with akazehe , a two-part interlocking vocal rhythm. The singing of the San people , like that of the pygmies, features melodic repetition, yodeling, and counterpoint. The singing of neighboring Bantu peoples , like
893-606: The Zulu , is more typically parallel. The peoples of tropical West Africa traditionally use parallel harmonies rather than counterpoint. Texture (music) In music , texture is how the tempo and the melodic and harmonic materials are combined in a musical composition , determining the overall quality of the sound in a piece. The texture is often described in regard to the density, or thickness, and range , or width, between lowest and highest pitches , in relative terms as well as more specifically distinguished according to
940-425: The mass attributable to one composer is Guillaume de Machaut 's Messe de Nostre Dame , 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. English Protestant west gallery music included polyphonic multi-melodic harmony, including fuguing tunes , by
987-399: The "catch" (a comic English form found from about 1580 to 1800), and a specialized use of the word "canon", in 17th- and 18th-century England designating rounds with religious texts. The oldest surviving round in English is " Sumer is icumen in " Play , which is for four voices, plus two bass voices singing a ground (that is, a never-changing repeating part), also in canon. However,
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#17328019770641034-551: The Evolutionary Model, the origins of polyphonic singing are much deeper, and are connected to the earlier stages of human evolution; polyphony was an important part of a defence system of the hominids, and traditions of polyphony are gradually disappearing all over the world. Although the exact origins of polyphony in the Western church traditions are unknown, the treatises Musica enchiriadis and Scolica enchiriadis , both dating from c . 900, are usually considered
1081-413: The Georgian polyphonic tradition to such an extent that they became a significant expression of it. Chechen and Ingush traditional music can be defined by their tradition of vocal polyphony. Chechen and Ingush polyphony is based on a drone and is mostly three-part, unlike most other north Caucasian traditions' two-part polyphony. The middle part carries the main melody accompanied by a double drone, holding
1128-540: The United States and even in places such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, and Australia, among others. Polyphonic singing is traditional folk singing of this part of southern Europe. It is also called ancient , archaic or old-style singing. Incipient polyphony (previously primitive polyphony) includes antiphony and call and response , drones , and parallel intervals . Balkan drone music
1175-495: 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 Docta Sanctorum Patrum . In contrast Pope Clement VI indulged in it. The oldest extant polyphonic setting of
1222-422: The conception was probably what Margaret Bent (1999) calls "dyadic counterpoint", with each part being written generally against one other part, with all parts modified if needed in the end. This point-against-point conception is opposed to "successive composition", where voices were written in an order with each new voice fitting into the whole so far constructed, which was previously assumed. The term polyphony
1269-503: The earliest known rounds are two works with Latin texts found in the eleventh fascicle of the Notre Dame manuscript Pluteo 29.1 . They are " Leto leta concio " (a two-voice round) and " O quanto consilio " (a four-voice round). The former dates from before 1180 and may be of German origin. The first published rounds in English were printed by Thomas Ravenscroft in 1609... "Three Blind Mice" appears in this collection, although in
1316-621: The emergence of polyphony in European professional music. Currently there are two contradictory approaches to the problem of 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 as the natural development of the primordial monophonic singing; therefore polyphonic traditions are bound to gradually replace monophonic traditions. According to
1363-549: The fields of music history and music analysis, some common terms for different types of texture are: Many classical pieces feature different kinds of texture within a short space of time. An example is the Scherzo from Schubert’s piano sonata in B major, D575 . The first four bars are monophonic , with both hands performing the same melody an octave apart: Bars 5–10 are homophonic , with all voices coinciding rhythmically: Bars 11–20 are polyphonic . There are three parts,
1410-687: The form of bamboo panpipe ensembles. Europeans were surprised to find drone-based and dissonant polyphonic singing in Polynesia. Polynesian traditions were then influenced by Western choral church music, which brought counterpoint into Polynesian musical practice. Numerous Sub-Saharan African music traditions host polyphonic singing, typically moving in parallel motion . While the Maasai people traditionally sing with drone polyphony, other East African groups use more elaborate techniques. The Dorze people , for example, sing with as many as six parts, and
1457-400: The interval of a fifth around the melody. Intervals and chords are often dissonances (sevenths, seconds, fourths), and traditional Chechen and Ingush songs use sharper dissonances than other North Caucasian traditions. The specific cadence of a final, dissonant three-part chord, consisting of fourth and the second on top (c-f-g), is almost unique. (Only in western Georgia do a few songs finish on
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1504-409: The iso-polyphonic singing and is related to the ison of Byzantine church music, where the drone group accompanies the song. The French island of Corsica has a unique style of music called Paghjella 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
1551-413: The main chords, every single note is in the tonic triad—in this case, a C, E, or G. Many rounds involve more than one chord, as in "Frère Jacques" Play melody : The texture is simpler, but it uses a few more notes; this can perhaps be more easily seen if all four parts are run together into the same two measures: The second beat of each measure does not sketch out a tonic triad, it outlines
1598-401: 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
1645-516: The notation does not indicate precise pitch levels or durations. However, 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 has been dated to the early tenth century. European polyphony rose out of melismatic organum , the earliest harmonization of the chant. During the 12th century, composers such as Léonin and Pérotin developed
1692-520: The number and character of parts playing at once, the timbre of the instruments or voices playing these parts and the harmony, tempo , and rhythms used. The types categorized by number and relationship of parts are analyzed and determined through the labeling of primary textural elements: primary melody (PM), secondary melody (SM), parallel supporting melody (PSM), static support (SS), harmonic support (HS), rhythmic support (RS), and harmonic and rhythmic support (HRS). In musical terms, particularly in
1739-410: The number of voices, or parts, and the relationship between these voices (see Common types below). For example, a thick texture contains many 'layers' of instruments. One of these layers could be a string section or another brass. The thickness also is changed by the amount and the richness of the instruments playing the piece. The thickness varies from light to thick. A piece's texture may be changed by
1786-431: 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 c . 1000, is generally considered to be the oldest extant example of notated polyphony for chant performance, although
1833-466: 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 fourteenth century. Harmony was considered frivolous, impious, lascivious, and an obstruction to
1880-561: 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. Cantu a tenore is a traditional style of polyphonic singing in Sardinia . Polyphony in
1927-629: The regular canons, variations 3 and 24 of the Goldberg Variations , and the perpetual canons, canon 7 of The Musical Offering and "Canon a 2 Perpetuus" ( BWV 1075). Several rounds are included amongst Arnold Schoenberg 's thirty-plus canons, which "within their natural limitations ... are brilliant pieces, containing too much of the composer's characteristically unexpected blend of seriousness, humour, vigour and tenderness to remain unperformed". Contemporary classical composers, such as Abbie Betinis , have also explored round-writing in
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1974-538: The remaining part weaves an independent melodic line: The final four bars revert to homophony , bringing the section to a close; A complete performance can be heard by following this link: Listen Although in music instruction certain styles or repertoires of music are often identified with one of these descriptions this is basically added music (for example, Gregorian chant is described as monophonic, Bach Chorales are described as homophonic and fugues as polyphonic), many composers use more than one type of texture in
2021-520: The sacred text might be placed within a familiar secular melody. The oldest surviving piece of six-part music is the English rota Sumer is icumen in ( c. 1240 ). 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. The notion of secular and sacred music merging in
2068-522: The same dissonant c-f-g chord.) Parts of Oceania maintain rich polyphonic traditions. The peoples of New Guinea Highlands including the Moni , Dani , and Yali use vocal polyphony, as do the people of Manus Island . Many of these styles are drone -based or feature close, secondal harmonies dissonant to western ears. Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands are host to instrumental polyphony, in
2115-468: The same piece of music. A simultaneity is more than one complete musical texture occurring at the same time, rather than in succession. A more recent type of texture first used by György Ligeti is micropolyphony . Other textures include polythematic , polyrhythmic, onomatopoeic, compound, and mixed or composite textures. Sources Rota (music) A round (also called a perpetual canon [ canon perpetuus ], round about or infinite canon )
2162-467: 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
2209-418: The top two moving in parallel (interval of a tenth). The lowest part imitates the rhythm of the upper two at the distance of three beats. The passage climaxes abruptly with a bar’s silence: After the silence, the polyphonic texture expands from three to four independent parts moving simultaneously in bars 21–24. The upper two parts are imitative , the lowest part consists of a repeated note ( pedal point ) and
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