polyphony

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From poly- + -phony.

Noun

polyphony (uncountable)

1. (music) Musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony).

Derived terms

• polyphonic

Translations

musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices

• French: polyphonie (fr) f
• German: Mehrstimmigkeit (de) f
• Icelandic: fjölröddun (is) f, pólýfónía (is) f

• Russian: полифония (ru) (polifónija) f, многоголосие (ru) (mnogogolósije) n
• Slovene: polifonija (sl) f

See also

• organum
• heterophony