Editing Polyphony (section)

{{Short description|Simultaneous lines of independent melody}}
{{About|the musical texture|other uses}}
{{Distinguish|Polytonality}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Listen|type=music
| header       = [[File:BachFugueBar.png|frameless|center]]
| filename     = BachBWV862Bar.mid
| title        = Sample of polyphony
| description  = A bar from [[J.S. Bach]]'s "[[Fugue]] No.17 in A flat," [[BWV]] 862, from ''[[Well-tempered Clavier|Das Wohltemperierte Clavier]]'' (Part I), a famous example of '''[[counterpoint|contrapuntal polyphony]]'''.
}}
'''Polyphony''' ({{IPAc-en|p|ə|ˈ|l|ɪ|f|ə|n|i}} {{respell|pə|LIF|ə|nee}}) is a type of musical [[texture (music)|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 [[chord (music)|chords]] ([[homophony]]).

Within the context of the Western musical tradition, the term ''polyphony'' is usually used to refer to [[music]] of the late [[Medieval music|Middle Ages]] and [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]]. [[Baroque music|Baroque]] forms such as [[fugue]], which might be called polyphonic, are usually described instead as [[counterpoint|contrapuntal]]. Also, as opposed to the ''species'' terminology of counterpoint,{{clarify|date=March 2016}} polyphony was generally either "pitch-against-pitch" / "point-against-point" or "sustained-pitch" in one part with [[melisma]]s of varying lengths in another.<ref>Hendrik van der Werf (1997). "Early Western polyphony", Companion to Medieval & Renaissance Music. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-816540-4}}.</ref> In all cases the conception was probably what [[Margaret Bent]] (1999) calls "dyadic counterpoint",<ref>[[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}}.</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Polyphony|first=Mark |last=DeVoto |url=http://www.britannica.com/art/polyphony-music |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online |year=2015 |access-date=2015-12-01}}</ref>