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Polyphony
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This article is about the musical texture. For other uses, see Polyphony
(disambiguation).

A bar from J.S. Bach's "Fugue No.17 in A flat", BWV 862, from Das Wohltemperierte
Clavier (Part I), a famous example of contrapuntal polyphony. About this soundPlay
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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.

Within the context of 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,
[clarification needed] polyphony was generally either "pitch-against-pitch" /
"point-against-point" or "sustained-pitch" in one part with melismas of varying
lengths in another.[1] In all cases the conception was probably what Margaret Bent
(1999) calls "dyadic counterpoint",[2] 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 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.[3]

Contents
1 Origins
2 European polyphony
2.1 Historical context
2.2 Western Europe and Roman Catholicism
2.2.1 Notable works and artists
2.3 Protestant Britain and the United States
2.4 Balkan region
2.5 Corsica
2.6 Sardinia
3 Caucasus region
3.1 Georgia
3.2 Chechens and Ingushes
4 Oceania
4.1 Melanesia
4.2 Polynesia
5 Africa
5.1 East Africa
5.2 Central Africa
5.3 Southern Africa
5.4 West Africa
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Origins
Traditional (non-professional) polyphony has a wide, if uneven, distribution among
the peoples of the world.[4] 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 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.
[5] 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.[6] According to 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.[7]:198�210

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 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 the oldest extant example of notated polyphony for chant
performance, although the notation does not indicate precise pitch levels or
durations.[8]

European polyphony
Historical context
European polyphony rose out of melismatic organum, the earliest harmonization of
the chant. Twelfth-century composers, such as L�onin and P�rotin developed the
organum that was introduced centuries earlier, and also added a third and fourth
voice to the now homophonic chant. In the thirteenth century, the chant-based tenor
was becoming altered, fragmented, and hidden beneath secular tunes, obscuring the
sacred texts as composers continued to play with this new invention called
polyphony. 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 Sumer is icumen in (c.
1240).[9]

These musical innovations appeared in a greater context of societal change. After

the first millennium, European monks decided to start translating the works of
Greek philosophers into the vernacular. Western Europeans were aware of Plato,
Socrates, and Hippocrates during the Middle Ages. However they had largely lost
touch with the content of their surviving works because the use of Greek as a
living language was restricted to the lands of the Eastern Roman Empire
(Byzantium). Once these ancient works started being translated thus becoming
accessible, the philosophies had a great impact on the mind of Western Europe. This
sparked a number of innovations in medicine, science, art, and music.

Western Europe and Roman Catholicism

European polyphony rose prior to, and during the period of the Western Schism.
Avignon, the seat of the antipopes, was a vigorous center of secular music-making,
much of which influenced sacred polyphony.[10]

It was not merely polyphony that offended the medieval ears, but the notion of
secular music merging with the sacred and making its way into the papal court. It
gave church music more of a jocular performance quality removing the solemn 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 not only considered frivolous, impious, and
lascivious, but 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. Dissonant clashes of notes give a
creepy feeling that was labeled as evil, fueling their argument against polyphony
as being the devil's music. After banishing polyphony from the Liturgy in 1322,
Pope John XXII spoke in his 1324 bull Docta Sanctorum Patrum warning against the
unbecoming elements of this musical innovation.[11] Pope Clement VI, however,
indulged in it.

The oldest extant polyphonic setting of 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.

More recently, the Second Vatican Council (1962�1965) stated: "Gregorian chant,
other things being equal, should be given pride of place in liturgical services.
But other kinds of sacred music, especially polyphony, are by no means excluded....
Religious singing by the people is to be skillfully fostered, so that in devotions
and sacred exercises, as also during liturgical services, the voices of the
faithful may ring out�.[12]

Notable works and artists

Tom�s Luis de Victoria
William Byrd, Mass for Five Voices
Thomas Tallis
Orlandus Lassus, Missa super Bella'Amfitrit'altera
Guillaume de Machaut, Messe de Nostre Dame
Jacob Obrecht
Palestrina, Missa Papae Marcelli
Josquin des Prez, Missa Pange Lingua
Gregorio Allegri, Miserere
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 Ireland, the
United Kingdom, Poland, Australia and New Zealand, among others.[citation needed]

Balkan region

Albanian polyphonic folk group wearing qeleshe and fustanella in Skrapar.

Polyphonic singing in the Balkans is traditional folk singing of this part of
southern Europe. It is also called ancient, archaic or old-style singing.[13][14]
Byzantine chant
Ojkanje singing, in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ganga singing, in Croatia, Montenegro and 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
Woman choirs of Shopi (Bistritsa Babi) and Pirin, in Bulgaria
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 polyphonos ('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.[15]

The polyphonic singing tradition of Epirus is a form of traditional folk polyphony

practiced among Aromanians, Albanians, Greeks, and Macedonian Slavs in southern
Albania and northwestern Greece.[16][17] 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.

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.[18][19]

Corsica
The French island 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 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.[20][21]

Sardinia
Cantu a tenore is a traditional style of polyphonic singing in Sardinia.

Caucasus region
Georgia
Polyphony in 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.[22] Georgian polyphonic singing has been proclaimed by UNESCO an Intangible
Cultural Heritage of Humanity.[23] Polyphony plays a crucial role in Abkhazian
traditional music. Polyphony is present in all genres where the social environment
provides more than one singer to support the melodic line. The ethnomusicologist
Izaly Zemtsovsky reported witnessing an example of such an incident, in which an
Abkhazian dozing at a bus stop started singing a drone to support a singer unknown
to him.[7]:8 Abkhazian two and three-part polyphony is based on a drone (sometimes
a double drone). Two part drone songs are considered by Abkhazian and Georgian
scholars the most important indigenous style of Abkhazian polyphony. Two-part drone
songs are dominating in Gudauta district, the core region of ethnic Abkhazians.
Millennia of cultural, social and economic interactions between Abkhazians and
Georgians on this territory resulted in reciprocal influences, and in particular,
creation of a new, so-called �Georgian style� of three-part singing in Abkhazia,
unknown among Adyghes. This style is based on two leading melodic lines (performed
by soloists - akhkizkhuo) singing together with the drone or ostinato base
(argizra). Indigenous Abkhazian style of three-part polyphony uses double drones
(in fourths, fifths, or octaves) and one leading melodic line at one time.
Abkhazians use a very specific cadence: tetrachordal downward movement, ending on
the interval of a fourth.[7]:55

Chechens and Ingushes

Both Chechen and Ingush traditional music could be very much defined by their
tradition of vocal polyphony. As in other North Caucasian musical cultures, Chechen
and Ingush polyphony is based on a drone. Unlike most of the other North Caucasian
polyphonic traditions (where two-part polyphony is the leading type), Chechen and
Ingush polyphony is mostly three-part. Middle part, the carrier of the main melody
of songs, is accompanied by the double drone, holding the interval of the fifth
�around� the main melody. Intervals and chords, used in Chechen and Ingush
polyphony, are often dissonances (sevenths, seconds, fourths). This is quite usual
in all North Caucasian traditions of polyphony as well, but in Chechen and Ingush
traditional songs more sharp dissonances are used. In particular, a specific
cadence, where the final chord is a dissonant three-part chord, consisting of
fourth and the second on top (c-f-g), is quite unique for North Caucasia. Only on
the other side of Caucasian mountains, in western Georgia, there are only few songs
that finish on the same dissonant chord (c-f-g).[7]:60�61

Oceania
Parts of Oceania maintain rich polyphonic traditions.

Melanesia
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 the form of bamboo panpipe
ensembles.[24][25]

Polynesia
Early European encounters with Polynesians were surprised to find polyphonic
singing there, which was likely drone-based and dissonant, like Melanesian
polyphony. However, Polynesian traditions became strongly influenced by Western
choral church music, which brought counterpoint into Polynesian musical practice.
[26][27]

Africa
See Also Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony

Numerous Sub-Saharan African music traditions host polyphonic singing, typically

moving in parallel motion.[28]

East Africa
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 the Wagogo use counterpoint.[28]

Central Africa
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.[29]

Southern Africa
The singing of the San people, like that of the pygmies, features melodic
repetition, yodeling, and counterpoint. The singing of neighboring Bantu peoples,
like the Zulu, is more typically parallel.[29]

West Africa
The peoples of tropical West Africa traditionally use parallel harmonies rather
than counterpoint.[30]

See also
Micropolyphony
Polyphonic Era
Venetian polychoral style
References
Hendrik van der Werf (1997). "Early Western polyphony", Companion to Medieval &
Renaissance Music. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816540-4.
Margaret Bent (1999). "The Grammar of Early Music: Preconditions for Analysis",
Tonal Structures of Early Music. New York: Garland Publishing. ISBN 0-8153-2388-3.
DeVoto, Mark (2015). "Polyphony". Encyclop�dia Britannica Online. Retrieved 1
December 2015.
Jordania, Joseph (2011). Why do People Sing? Music in Human Evolution. Logos. pp.
13�37. ISBN 978-9941-401-86-2.
Jordania, Joseph (2011). Why do People Sing? Music in Human Evolution. Logos. pp.
6o-70. ISBN 978-9941-401-86-2.
Bruno Nettl. Polyphony in North American Indian music. Musical Quarterly, 1961,
47:354�62
Joseph Jordania (2006). Who Asked the First Question? The Origins of Human Choral
Singing, Intelligence, Language and Speech (PDF). Tbilisi: Logos. ISBN 99940-31-81-
3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2012.
Riemann, Hugo. History of music theory, books I and II: polyphonic theory to the
sixteenth century, Book 1. Da Capo Press. June 1974.
Albright, Daniel (2004). Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources. University
of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-01267-0.
Riemann, Hugo. History of music theory, books I and II: polyphonic theory to the
sixteenth century, Book 2. Da Capo Press. June 1974.
Pope John XXII (1879). "Translated from the original Latin of the bull Docta
sanctorum patrum as given in Corpus iuris canonici, ed. a. 1582" (PDF). pp.
1256�57.
Vatican II, Constitution on the Liturgy, 112�18
"Startseite - Forschungszentrum f�r Europ�ische Mehrstimmigkeit". www.mdw.ac.at.
Kartomi, Margaret J.; Blum, Stephen (9 January 1994). "Music-cultures in contact:
convergences and collisions". Currency Press � via Google Books.
Ko�o, Eno (27 February 2015). A Journey of the Vocal Iso(n). Cambridge Scholars
Publishing. p. xx. ISBN 978-1-4438-7578-3. A free, unpublished version of this
passage is available on Google Books.
Bart Plantenga. Yodel-ay-ee-oooo. Routledge, 2004. ISBN 978-0-415-93990-4, 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,
ISBN 0-226-77972-6, 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 "
European voices: Multipart singing in the Balkans and the ..., Volume 1 By Ardian
Ahmedaja, Gerlinde Haid p. 241 [1]
"Albanian Folk Iso-polyphony". UNESCO. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
Keyser, William. "Learn about Corsican traditional music, groups and recordings".
www.corsica-isula.com. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
Bithell, Caroline (1996). Polyphonic Voices: National Identity, World Music and
the Recording of Traditional Music in Corsica. British Forum of Ethnomusicology.
Curcumia, R. Jordania, Joseph, 1954- (2009). Echoes from Georgia : seventeen
arguments on Georgian polyphony. Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 978-1-60876-477-8.
OCLC 432991038.
"Georgian Polyphonic Singing". UNESCO.
Jordania, Joseph (2011). 'Polyphonic regions of the world' in 'Why do People Sing?
Music in Human Evolution'. Logos. p. 36.
Kaeppler, Adrienne L.; Christensen, Dieter. "Oceanic Music and Dance". Britannica.
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
Jordania, Joseph (2011). 'Polyphonic regions of the world' in 'Why do People Sing?
Music in Human Evolution'. Logos. p. 35.
Kaeppler, Adrienne L.; Christensen, Dieter. "Oceanic Music and Dance". Britannica.
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
Jordania, Joseph (2011). 'Polyphonic regions of the world' in 'Why do People Sing?
Music in Human Evolution'. Logos. p. 20.
Jordania, Joseph (2011). 'Polyphonic regions of the world' in 'Why do People Sing?
Music in Human Evolution'. Logos. p. 21.
Jordania, Joseph (2011). 'Polyphonic regions of the world' in 'Why do People Sing?
Music in Human Evolution'. Logos. pp. 21�22.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Polyphony.
Thirteenth-Century Polyphony
Tuning and Intonation in Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century Polyphony
World Routes in Albania � Iso-Polyphony in Southern Albania on BBC Radio 3
World Routes in Georgia � Ancient polyphony from the Caucasus region on BBC Radio 3
Aka Pygmy Polyphony African Pygmy music, with photos and soundscapes
vte
Counterpoint and polyphony
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Musical textures
Categories: Polyphonic formPolyphonic singingHarmonyMusical texture
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