Monophony

The sameness in music is the principle of presentation, in which sounds are coordinated as a sequence in time ( melody ). In contrast to polyphony , harmony is avoided, a monody is characteristic.

Any musical culture historically began with monophony (cf. monodies: Gregorian choral , famous chant ). At present, monophony is characteristic of folk music and some eastern systems ( makam , raga ); since the 15th century, in classical European music, as an independent branch, unanimity has been supplanted; Guillaume de Masho was the last notable composer with one-voice works. Monophonic "islands" are rare:

• in solo for wind or other one-voice musical instruments;
• in vocal works that convey the traditions of folk music (Jose’s aria in J. Bizet ’s opera Carmen ;
• for the contrast effect in polyphonic music (solo for the English horn in R. Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolda );
• during stylization (Diak’s solo in Rimsky-Korsakov ’s opera The Night Before Christmas ).

In monophony, latent polyphony can be used, forming the effect of polyphony, which was used by JS Bach in sonatas and partitas for violin solo.

At the beginning of the 20th century, as part of a new interpretation of the modes of the major-minor system, interest in monophony resumed (for example, three pieces by I.F. Stravinsky for clarinet solo, 1919).