Polyphony

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 A bar from J.S. Bach's "Fugue No.17
terminology of counterpoint, polyphony was generally either in A flat", BWV 862, from Das
"pitch-against-pitch" / "point-against-point" or "sustained- Wohltemperierte Clavier (Part I), a
pitch" in one part with melismas of varying lengths in famous example of contrapuntal
[1]
another. In all cases the conception was probably what polyphony. Play
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
Origins
European polyphony
Historical context
Western Europe and Roman Catholicism
Notable works and artists
Protestant Britain and the United States
Balkan region
Corsica
Sardinia
Caucasus region
Georgia
Chechens and Ingushes
Oceania
Melanesia
Polynesia
Africa
East Africa
Central Africa
Southern Africa
West Africa
See also
References
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 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.[8] 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.[9]

European polyphony

Historical context
European polyphony rose out of melismatic organum, the earliest harmonization of the chant.
Twelfth-century composers, such as Léonin and Pérotin 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).[10]

These musical innovations appeared in a greater context of societal change. After the first
millennium, European monks started translating Greek philosophy into the vernacular.

In the Middle Ages Western Europeans' ignorance of ancient Greek meant they lost touch with
works by Plato, Socrates, and Hippocrates. Translations into Latin from Arabic allowed these
philosophical works to impact 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 popes and then antipopes, was a vigorous center of secular music-making, much of
which influenced sacred polyphony.[11]

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 fourteenth
century.

Harmony was considered frivolous, impious, lascivious, and an obstruction to the audibility of
the words. Instruments, as well tain 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 warned against the
unbecoming elements of this musical innovation in his 1324 bull Docta Sanctorum Patrum.[12]
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 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.[13]

Notable works and artists

Tomás Luis de Victoria
William Byrd, Mass for Five Voices
Thomas Tallis, Spem in alium
Orlandus Lassus, Missa super Bella'Amfitrit'altera
Guillaume de Machaut, Messe de Nostre Dame
Geoffrey Chaucer[14]
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.

Balkan region
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.[15][16]

Byzantine chant
Ojkanje singing, in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and
Herzegovina
Ganga singing, in Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia and
Herzegovina Albanian polyphonic folk group
Epirote singing, in northern Greece and southern wearing qeleshe and fustanella in
Albania (see below) Skrapar.
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 and those in North Macedonia

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 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.[17]

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.[18][19] 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.[20]

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.[21][22]

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.[23][24]

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.[25] Georgian polyphonic singing has been
proclaimed by UNESCO an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.[26] 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

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 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 the same dissonant c-f-g
chord).[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.[27][28]

Polynesia
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.[29][30]

Africa
See Also Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony

Numerous Sub-Saharan African music traditions host polyphonic singing, typically moving in
parallel motion.[31]

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.[31]
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.[32]

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.[32]

West Africa
The peoples of tropical West Africa traditionally use parallel harmonies rather than
counterpoint.[33]

See also
Micropolyphony
Polyphonic Era
Venetian polychoral style

References
1. Hendrik van der Werf (1997). "Early Western polyphony", Companion to Medieval &
Renaissance Music. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816540-4.
2. 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.
3. DeVoto, Mark (2015). "Polyphony" (http://www.britannica.com/art/polyphony-music).
Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
4. Jordania, Joseph (2011). Why do People Sing? Music in Human Evolution. Logos. pp. 13–
37. ISBN 978-9941-401-86-2.
5. Jordania, Joseph (2011). Why do People Sing? Music in Human Evolution. Logos. pp. 6o–
70. ISBN 978-9941-401-86-2.
6. Bruno Nettl. Polyphony in North American Indian music. Musical Quarterly, 1961, 47:354–62
7. Joseph Jordania (2006). Who Asked the First Question? The Origins of Human Choral
Singing, Intelligence, Language and Speech (https://web.archive.org/web/20120307121744/
http://www.polyphony.ge/uploads/whoaskthefirst.pdf) (PDF). Tbilisi: Logos. ISBN 99940-31-
81-3. Archived from the original (http://www.polyphony.ge/uploads/whoaskthefirst.pdf) (PDF)
on 7 March 2012.
8. Riemann, Hugo. History of music theory, books I and II: polyphonic theory to the sixteenth
century, Book 1. Da Capo Press. June 1974.
9. "Earliest known piece of polyphonic music discovered" (https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/ne
ws/earliest-known-piece-of-polyphonic-music-discovered). www.cam.ac.uk. University of
Cambridge. 17 December 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
10. Albright, Daniel (2004). Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources. University of
Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-01267-0.
 Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-01267-0.
11. Riemann, Hugo. History of music theory, books I and II: polyphonic theory to the sixteenth
century, Book 2. Da Capo Press. June 1974.
12. Pope John XXII (1879). "Translated from the original Latin of the bull Docta sanctorum
patrum as given in Corpus iuris canonici, ed. a. 1582" (http://www.cengage.com/music/book
_content/049557273X_wrightSimms/assets/ITOW/7273X_10b_ITOW_John_XXII.pdf)
(PDF). pp. 1256–57.
13. Vatican II, Constitution on the Liturgy, 112–18
14. See Jonathan Fruoco's work on Chaucer's polyphony: Chaucer's Polyphony (https://www.de
gruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781501514364/html) and Polyphony and the Modern (h
ttps://www.routledge.com/Polyphony-and-the-Modern/Fruoco/p/book/9780367655150).
15. "Startseite - Forschungszentrum für Europäische Mehrstimmigkeit" (http://www.mdw.ac.at/iv
e/emm/index.php?id=238). www.mdw.ac.at.
16. Kartomi, Margaret J.; Blum, Stephen (9 January 1994). Music-cultures in contact:
convergences and collisions (https://books.google.com/books?id=V9zpAAAAIAAJ).
Currency Press. ISBN 9780868193656 – via Google Books.
17. Koço, Eno (27 February 2015). A Journey of the Vocal Iso(n) (https://books.google.com/boo
ks?id=d5_zBgAAQBAJ). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. xx. ISBN 978-1-4438-7578-3. A
free, unpublished version of this passage is available on Google Books (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=zoPI3exolloC&pg=PR22).
18. Bart Plantenga. Yodel-ay-ee-oooo (https://books.google.com/books?hl=el&id=3BzBBq48O6
AC&q=polyphonic). 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].
19. 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 "
20. Kahl, Thede (2008). "Multipart singing among the Aromanians (Vlachs)". In Ahmedaja,
Ardian; Haid, Gerlinde (eds.). European Voices I: Multipart singing in the Balkans and the
Mediterranean (https://books.google.com/books?id=Iga91qAoeDYC). Böhlau Verlag.
pp. 267–280. ISBN 9783205780908.
21. European voices: Multipart singing in the Balkans and the ..., Volume 1 By Ardian
Ahmedaja, Gerlinde Haid p. 241 [1] (https://books.google.com/books?id=Iga91qAoeDYC&p
g=PA241&dq=festivali+i+folklorit+gjirokaster+5+years&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false)
22. "Albanian Folk Iso-polyphony" (http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=en&pg=000
11&RL=00155). UNESCO. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
23. Keyser, William. "Learn about Corsican traditional music, groups and recordings" (http://ww
w.corsica-isula.com/music.htm). www.corsica-isula.com. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
24. Bithell, Caroline (1996). Polyphonic Voices: National Identity, World Music and the
Recording of Traditional Music in Corsica. British Forum of Ethnomusicology.
25. Curcumia, R. Jordania, Joseph, 1954- (2009). Echoes from Georgia : seventeen arguments
on Georgian polyphony (http://worldcat.org/oclc/432991038). Nova Science Publishers.
ISBN 978-1-60876-477-8. OCLC 432991038 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/432991038).
26. "Georgian Polyphonic Singing" (http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=en&pg=000
11&RL=00008). UNESCO.
27. Jordania, Joseph (2011). 'Polyphonic regions of the world' in 'Why do People Sing? Music in
 Human Evolution'. Logos. p. 36.
28. Kaeppler, Adrienne L.; Christensen, Dieter. "Oceanic Music and Dance" (https://www.britann
ica.com/art/Oceanic-music#ref14334). Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved
7 August 2018.
29. Jordania, Joseph (2011). 'Polyphonic regions of the world' in 'Why do People Sing? Music in
Human Evolution'. Logos. p. 35.
30. Kaeppler, Adrienne L.; Christensen, Dieter. "Oceanic Music and Dance" (https://www.britann
ica.com/art/Oceanic-music#ref14339). Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved
7 August 2018.
31. Jordania, Joseph (2011). 'Polyphonic regions of the world' in 'Why do People Sing? Music in
Human Evolution'. Logos. p. 20.
32. Jordania, Joseph (2011). 'Polyphonic regions of the world' in 'Why do People Sing? Music in
Human Evolution'. Logos. p. 21.
33. Jordania, Joseph (2011). 'Polyphonic regions of the world' in 'Why do People Sing? Music in
Human Evolution'. Logos. pp. 21–22.

External links
Thirteenth-Century Polyphony (http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/harmony/2voice.html)
Tuning and Intonation in Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century Polyphony (https://web.archive.org
/web/20120405233720/http://www.gesualdo.co.uk/2011/12/04/tuning-and-intonation-in-fiftee
nth-and-sixteenth-century-polyphony/)
World Routes in Albania – Iso-Polyphony in Southern Albania (http://www.bbc.co.uk/progra
mmes/b016vl5c) on BBC Radio 3
World Routes in Georgia – Ancient polyphony from the Caucasus region (http://www.bbc.co.
uk/radio3/worldmusic/onlocation/georgia.shtml) on BBC Radio 3
Aka Pygmy Polyphony (https://web.archive.org/web/20131214074340/http://www.pygmies.o
rg/aka/music-dance.asp) African Pygmy music, with photos and soundscapes

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