Early Polyphony

The beginnings of simultaneous sounding of more than one melody, which we know as polyphony, be still enshrouded in speculation and theories. Some scholars ar suggest that origins may lie in Greek music, when the technique of improvising on the same melody could be found, also know as heterophony; others advise that its origins rest in the natural variations in voice placement from one person to another, when two different voices would sing the same melody using the most snug parts of their ranges, which would produce a series of tally intervals. withal it dirty dog be as a result of philosophical speculation on the possibility of simultaneous interval per figure of speechance. despite its origins we shag assume that polyphony existed in one form or another somewhere else before it grew in the West. In order to trace the earliest stages of its development we must assert on theoretical treatises. The technical descriptions of part singing, that establish its distinguishing name, organum, can be found in theoretical works by the ninth and tenth centuries, but we find in them no signs of the prehistory or an attachment to any particular region. Conversely, these treatises eviscerate and systematize practices that may well have been widespread and could be considered a custom, not a novelty.




Two of the most burning(prenominal) treatises of this period are the Musica enchiriadis and the Scolica enchiriadis (both anonymous, 9th century treatises). These treatises describe different types of organum, which can be divided as strict or parallel organum, when it is based on parallel motion of certain icy intervals, with or without doubling at the octave; and the second, known as free organum or modified parallel organum, where the opening or closing sections are not restricted to one interval. notwithstanding its differences all of them have one basic principle: they are built on preexistent plainchant. The plainchant is called the vox principalis or principal voice, which is duplicated bellow at the...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



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