Polyphonia

POLYPHONIA (Eng. Polyphony, from the Gr. πoλὶς, many, ϕωνὴ, a voice). A term applied, by modern Musical Historians, to a certain species of unaccompanied Vocal Music, in which each Voice is made to sing a Melody of its own; the various Parts being bound together, in obedience to the laws of Counterpoint, into an harmonious whole, wherein it is impossible to decide which Voice has the most important task allotted to it, since all are equally necessary to the general effect...