POLIFONIA

POLYPHONY. — From the Greek πολύς = much and φωνή = sound, voice, it is music based on the simultaneous combination of two or more parts, whether or not they have thematic relation. The great trunk of p. divides into two flourishing branches: vocal p. and instrumental p., which in turn subdivide into sacred and profane. According to another criterion, polyphonic music may be distinguished into the so-called imitative style, based on the reciprocal imitation of the parts (thematic imitation — "canonic" when prolonged), the homophonic style, in which verticality prevails, and the free style, more suited to instrumental counterpoint.

I. ORIGINS

From the 9th to the 13th century the forms of the ars antiqua arise. The Irish philosopher John Scotus Eriugena, Ubaldo of St-Amand, and the region of Prüm are the earliest theorists on the threshold of p., before Guido d’Arezzo. It was within ecclesiastical culture that the initial forms of the new musical era were devised. These are: the organum (to the given chant, Gregorian, a part is added in oblique or parallel motion); the discant (which inaugurates contrary motion; its theoretical enunciation is found in the treatise Quicunque vent deschanter, of the 13th century); the fauxbourdon (series of 3rds and 6ths: originating, it seems, from the English gimmel or cantus gemellus). But up to this point one remained in the field of note against note. Mensuralism soon introduced proportional figures, maxima, longa, brevis, etc., causing the fall of the old six mythical modes (constant series of iambs, trochees, dactyls, etc.) and allowing the evolution of p. proper. All this converged in the most elaborate of the ancient polyphonic forms, namely the motet, which combined not only different rhythms but even different texts: as many texts as there were voices. Other primitive forms of p. were the conductus (with a tenor of free invention derived from Gregorian chant), the clausulae (compositions based on the incipit of graduals or other liturgical melodies), the copula (with musical parts), and the rondellus (with reciprocal turns of the various parts). Since, however, all this had generated inconveniences for sacred art, the Church rose to its defense. The bull Docta sanctorum of John XXII (Avignon, 1324), without banning p., deplored and excluded from the music of the Mass and the Divine Office the accented and constant rhythms, the sobbing breaks (hocket), the double and profane texts, and the corruption of melodies distorted by rapid movements and sometimes even commented on by the gestures of the singers. Ancient p., according to specialists, was probably soloistic. The school of Notre-Dame in Paris is said to have first adopted ternary measure.

II. RENEWAL

Although destroying Gregorian rhythm, ancient p. had intensified and externalized the feeling of the text. A vigorous impulse toward renewal came, in the 14th century, from forms of music on real texts, relaxed into the vernacular, such as the madrigal, the ballata, and the caccia. The madrigal has two melodic motifs, one for the strophes and the other for the refrain. The ballata is, musically, ternary (schema a-b-a). In the "caccia," two of the three voices chase each other in canon. In the Italian Ars nova, consonances prevail in long sounds, rhythms are nimble, and melodic invention is fresh; often the measure is binary; rapid figurations increase, and the descriptive sense and instruments (psaltery, viol, portative organ, etc.) are associated with grace. Gherardello da Firenze, Giovanni da Cascia, Casella, mentioned by Dante, and others illustrate the Italian Ars nova; Guillaume de Machaut is the foremost exponent of the French school. This elaborates the forms of the virelai and the ballade, of which the first stanza is divided into the ouvert and the clos (Machaut introduced an instrumental contratenor in addition to the tenor, which was also instrumental).

III. MATURITY

Flanders (Hainaut, Belgium, northern France) in the 15th century possessed a fervor of culture that resulted from centuries of commercial exchanges and that allowed a great development of music. On the one hand the maîtrises (one of the most illustrious being that of Cambrai), on the other the chapels of princes, among which that of the Duke of Burgundy stood out, concurred simultaneously in favoring the deployment of technical means and expressive possibilities of the deposits in p. A mistaken judgment has been passed on the production of these masters, accusing it of cerebralism and arid technicality; the judgment simply shows that these musics have not been heard. If some cases justify the accusation, such as combinations of inversion and retrograde canon, only exceptionally were such procedures used coldly, and the vast majority of examples are in which they are conscious forms of intense religious feeling. Skilled in overcoming the most arduous difficulties of thematic counterpoint, the Flemish composers gave p. a depth and flexibility worthy of admiration. An excess resulted from this, and it cannot be denied, regarding the texts, which became unclear to the listener: and the Council of Trent took up the matter. The Flemish p. is generally divided into periods corresponding to the generations of the most representative composers: 1st generation with Guillaume Dufay (1440?–74) and Gilles Binchois (d. 1460); 2nd with Antoine Busnois (d. 1492) and Jean Ockeghem (1430?–95); 3rd with Jacob Obrecht (1450–1505) and Josquin des Prés (1450–1521). The mere reading of these authors (to whom many others could be added) is fruitful with joys, and one is surprised not only by the learned craftsmanship but also by the evocative power and linear beauty. As the theorist M. de Menehou declared in 1558, the fundamental requirement of counterpoint was to "make the parts sing as pleasantly as possible."

IV. APOGEE

The values of vocal p. were summed up, with different ideal attitudes and expressive preferences, but with equally admirable mastery and unsurpassed ardor of religious feeling, in the works of Andrea Gabrieli (1510?–86), Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525?–94), Orlando di Lasso (1532–94), and Tomás Luis de Victoria (1540–1613). For anti-Italian tendencies, attempts have been made to deny Palestrina the rank and importance that historical tradition attributed to him. But whoever approaches his immense production with a serene mind and without polemical aims cannot but acknowledge II. He stands with regal distance in the "Roman school," above Festa, Animuccia, the two Nanini, the two Anerios, Cifra, Allegri, Soriano, and Giovannielli. Similarly, A. Gabrieli stands above Willaert, C. Porta, and G. Croce.

After these great masters, vocal p. rapidly declined. But the symptoms of p.’s decline (the 4th–6th chord, the diminished thematic interest of the parts, the prominence of the upper voice) are also symptoms of the new age, the tonal and monodic age.

V. INSTRUMENTAL

Instrumental p. with its own technical-expressive demands, though derived from vocal p., appears when, in the German lands, the organ took its inspiration from chorale melodies to intertwine with them along with the strings; that is, from the first quarter of the 17th century. The organ works of Scheidt, J. G. Walther, Pachelbel, and Buxtehude, the sacred compositions with orchestra by the same Buxtehude, Ahle, Weckmann, and the oratorios of Sebastiani and Schütz are the premises of that perfect contrapuntal independence and melodic flexibility of instrumental parts which finds its integral and glorious affirmation in the art of J. S. Bach.