ABSTRACT
We saw in the preceding chapter the considerable distance that separates perceptual processes from linear organization—in other words, the structure of musical time—in the simple forms of primitive art and in the thematic forms of Western art. This distance is not a question of value judgment. The recordings that brought us into contact with musical sources from the peoples of Asia and Africa have shown us the subtle refinement in timbre discrimination presupposed by certain monophonie Chinese pieces based on 26 ways of playing the same lute string. We have also seen the development—of equal refinement but in another direction—implied by the comprehension of polyrhythmic patterns in certain musics of Black Africa. The same diversity can be observed with regard to simultaneous organization. Our present state of knowledge no longer permits us to restrict the invention of harmony and polyphony exclusively to modern Europe. Texts of Plato (1961) and others attributed to Aristotle (1984; Stumpf, 1896) indicate that in ancient Greece voices were accompanied according to certain rules. Likewise, polyphony (in the sense of the simultaneous progression of independent voices) is not unknown to certain primitive peoples, as has been shown in numerous examples, notably those presented by Sachs (1943). (See Figure 7.1.) In the whole study of forms, it is in this area of simultaneous patterns that we find an infinitely rich scale of steps leading from rigorous homophony (as practiced in Europe until the High Middle Ages) to the more exuberant polyphony of Lassus, Palestrina, and Bach—from successions of parallel fourths and fifths to the subtle harmonies of a Fauré or a Roussel.
