Renaissance polyphony

Renaissance polyphony is music in which two or more independent melodic lines sound together, especially in vocal works of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Its lines are coordinated through counterpoint rather than subordinated to a single melody.

Counterpoint: The composition of music from two or more independent melodic lines sounding together. Renaissance polyphony depends on the coordination of independent voices.
Renaissance motet: A polyphonic vocal composition, usually sacred and Latin, composed during the Renaissance. The motet was a major setting for elaborate sacred polyphony.
Medieval music: The music of Europe from approximately the fifth through the fifteenth century. Renaissance polyphony developed from musical practices established in the medieval period.
Josquin des Prez: A Franco-Flemish composer whose sacred and secular works shaped Renaissance music. His music became a widely admired model of expressive, carefully controlled counterpoint.
Monophony: Music consisting of a single melodic line, with no independent harmony. It provides the clearest contrast to several simultaneous melodic lines.
Imitative polyphony: Polyphony in which one voice repeats a melodic idea introduced by another. Imitation gives many Renaissance works their recognizable flow between voices.
Mass (music): A musical setting of the texts used in the Catholic Mass. Polyphonic masses became a central large-scale sacred form.
Ars nova: A fourteenth-century musical style associated with new developments in rhythm and notation. Its rhythmic and notational innovations helped prepare later polyphonic practice.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: An Italian Renaissance composer known especially for his sacred choral music. His masses and motets became enduring examples of clear, balanced sacred polyphony.
Homophony: A musical texture in which a melody is supported by accompanying chords or voices. Unlike Renaissance polyphony, homophony gives the parts unequal melodic roles.

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