Imitative polyphony is associated particularly with Western music from the later Renaissance and the Baroque periods.The journey to finding the right voice for a novel can be an arduous one.Each of these types may also mix with or succeed one another in a musical passage.but if the strands show little or no resemblance to each other, it is non-imitative.If the individual lines are similar in their shapes and sounds, the polyphony is termed imitative.Polyphony may be imitative or non-imitative, depending on how closely the various musical lines resemble each other.The second demonstrates imitative polyphony in a piece for solo harpsichord, played by a single performer. The first example shows the procedure in an orchestral context. As in the previous example, each part enters individually with a similar musical phrase, and then continues to act as an important participant as the piece progresses. The same principles of sharing musical material among the various melodic lines can be heard in these two selections from instrumental compositions by the Baroque composer J.S. And, since each of the parts also recalls the others with similar sounding material, the polyphonic texture is imitative. Each of the entering voices thus imitates its predecessor as it presents its material.įig 3: The four musical lines of Example 1.īut significantly, after each of the parts has sung its opening phrase, it does not resort to accompanying material instead it continues to spin further melodic phrases that are also taken up by each member of the ensemble in turn.Īs a result, each of the four participants in this texture retains its musical identity and interest throughout this section of the piece-they all are thus truly polyphonic. This opening phrase begins alone in the highest of the parts, and then works its way down to the lowest voice in the texture. In the following example of imitative polyphony-a vocal composition from the Renaissance written by Josquin des Prez-each of the four voice parts begins successively with the same musical phrase.
Similarly, although it appears in medieval compositions from as early as the 13th century, imitative polyphonic textures were especially exploited in music from the later Renaissance and the Baroque periods, from approximately 1500-1750. In contrast to the independence of the musical lines in non-imitative polyphony, imitative polyphony allows the members of a polyphonic texture to share audible features of the melodic material, as they echo portions of it among the various parts.Īlthough imitative polyphony may appear in music from a variety of cultures, it is particularly prominent in Western European art music. Each of these types may also mix with or succeed one other in a musical passage.įig 2: A mixture of imitative and non-imitative polyphonic textures. If the individual lines are similar in their shapes and sounds, the polyphony is termed imitative but if the strands show little or no resemblance to each other, it is non-imitative.
Either the various melodic lines in a polyphonic passage may sound similar to one another, or they may be completely independent in their rhythm and contour. Polyphony is usually divided into two main types: imitative and non-imitative. A musical texture featuring two or more equally prominent, simultaneous melodic lines, those lines being similar in shape and sound.įig 1: The composer Johannes Okeghem with his singers.
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