ABSTRACT
Texture in music refers to the number of voices or parts in a composition and the overall sound they produce when combined. Familiar textures include those consisting of a single part (monophony), those with several voices moving independently of one another or in imitation (polyphony), and those in which multiple voices combine to form chords or chordal accompaniment for a melody (homophony). We have already encountered examples of these textures in the previous chapters. Stravinsky’s In Memoriam Dylan Thomas and Dallapiccola’s “Contrapunctus Primus” (Chapter 8, Examples 8.2 and 8.4) with their imitative counterpoint are polyphonic compositions. Ruth Crawford’s Diaphonic Suite (Chapter 3, Example 3.8) has a monophonic texture. Among the numerous examples of homophonic textures are Alban Berg’s Schlafend trägt man mich (Chapter 5, Example 5.1) and Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms (Chapter 5, Example 5.2 and Chapter 8, Example 8.1).
