Quotes & Sayings About Polyphony

The idea is distributed in space. It isn't only in one part; one part can't express the idea any longer, only the union of parts can completely express the idea. The idea found it necessary to be presented by several parts. After that, there was a rapid flowering of polyphony. — Anton Webern

All the senses awaken and fall into harmony in poetic reverie. Poetic reverie listens to this polyphony of the senses, and the poetic consciousness must record it. — Gaston Bachelard

In my piano concerto I developed this polyphony to much higher complexity. — Gyorgy Ligeti

I've never had a band with more than 3 people (meaning only two string players), so I love having the ability for 3-part polyphony. — Colin Marston

As for sacred polyphony, there is no reason to be afraid of it. — Richard Morris

The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services. But other kinds of sacred music, especially polyphony, are by no means excluded from liturgical celebrations, so long as they accord with the spirit of the liturgical action. — Pope Paul VI

The essence of polyphony lies precisely in the fact that the voices remain independent and, as such, are combined in a unity of a higher order than in homophony. — Mikhail Bakhtin

All modern MIDI synthesizers are capable of polyphony, which means they can play more than one note at a time and more than one instrument at a time. — Charles Petzold

I would like to hear Elliot Carter's Fourth String Quartet, if only to discover what a cranky prostate does to one's polyphony. — James Sellars

For me, anything can be music! I can get huge enjoyment and be moved totally by the purity and perfection of some Renaissance polyphony, but equally I can feel emotion in the expectant hum of a big old guitar amp just before the strings are hit. — Steven Price

drama is by its very nature alien to genuine polyphony; drama may be multi-leveled, but it cannot contain multiple worlds; it permits only one, and not several, systems of measurement. Secondly, — Mikhail Bakhtin

An authentic updating of sacred music can take place only in the lineage of the great tradition of the past, of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony. — Pope Benedict XVI