| Polyphony |
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Polyphony is a Musical Texture consisting of two or more independent Melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice ( Monophony ) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by Chord s ( Homophony ). OVERVIEW The term is usually used in reference to music of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance . Baroque forms such as the 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 Melisma s of varying lengths in another (van der Werf, 1997). In all cases the conception was likely 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. CHARACTERISTICS Two treatises, both dating from ''c''. 900, are usually considered the oldest surviving part-music though they are note-against-note, voices move mostly in parallel octaves, fifths, and fourths, and they were not intended to be performed. The 'Winchester Tropers', from ''c''. 1000, are the oldest surviving example of practical rather than pedagogical polyphony, though intervals, pitch levels, and durations are often not indicated. (van der Werf, 1997) HISTORY The oldest surviving piece of six-part music is the English Rota '' Sumer Is Icumen In '' (ca. 1240). (Albright, 2004) FAMOUS WORKS AND ARTISTS
OTHER KINDS OF POLYPHONY Incipient polyphony (previously primitive polyphony) includes Antiphony and Call And Response (music) , Drones , and Parallel Interval s. SEE ALSO SOURCES
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