Polyphony |

Warehouse of music, based on the contemporaneous. a combination of several votes [see Voice (1)]; opposed to monody. The first reliable information about M. in prof. music belong to the 10th-11th centuries. These early examples are varieties of the organum. In the future, a polyphonic presentation in prof. music and a number of nar. music cultures become dominant. Distinguish several. types M.: heterophony – the performance of the melody of several. voices in unison with episodic. deviations from it in otd. votes. This type of M., from which all the others originate, is characteristic of decomp. nar. cultures, including Russian (under-voiced M. Russian folk songs); homophony, in which the main, most melodically developed voice is combined with neutral, melodically subordinate voices (accompaniment); polyphony – connections in the simultaneous sound of developed, relatively independent melodies (voices) or holding the same melody, which enters into decomp. votes at different times; dec. types of complex M. – a combination in simultaneity of different types of M. (heterophony, homophony, polyphony), so-called. polyphony of layers, already found in con. 18th century

T. F. Müller