polyphony

Noun

Meaning

Multiplicity of sounds, as in the reverberations of an echo.

Plurality of sounds and articulations expressed by the same vocal sign.

Composition in mutually related, equally important parts which share the melody among them; contrapuntal composition; -- opposed to homophony, in which the melody is given to one part only, the others filling out the harmony. See Counterpoint.

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Phrases with the word

Examples

I strive to make my art bear the same relation to painting that polyphony bears to music. Illustrative music is a thing of the past: it has become abstract and purely aesthetic, dependent for its effect upon rhythm and form. Stanton Macdonald-Wright

In my piano concerto I developed this polyphony to much higher complexity. György Ligeti

1526 49) were particularly important for their contributions to the development of lute polyphony in Spain. Source: Internet

Abkhazian two and three-part polyphony is based on a drone (sometimes a double drone). Source: Internet

"A Landmark in Musical History" in Wagner 1981, p. 15. Throughout Tristan, Wagner uses a remarkable range of orchestral colour, harmony, and polyphony, doing so with a freedom rarely found in his earlier operas. Source: Internet

As polyphony developed, however, the use of parallel intervals was slowly replaced by the English style of consonance that used thirds and sixths. Source: Internet

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