Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Inane. Greek music, a dissonance: distinguished from
symphony . - noun In medieval music, tin; earliest and crudest form of polyphony, in which two, three, or four voices proceeded in strictly parallel motion, at such intervals with one another as the octave, the fifth, and the fourth. Also called
organum .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun music A primitive form of
harmony in which the parts proceeded by parallel motion in fourths, fifths, and octaves
Etymologies
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Examples
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In all parts of his work but one he uses the term diaphony as synonymous with symphony; _there_ he gives its ancient meaning of dissonance.
A Popular History of the Art of Music From the Earliest Times Until the Present 1874
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Here we find St. Isidore employing the term diaphony in its original sense, as a Greek word, meaning dissonance -- a sense exactly opposite to that of Jean de Muris.
A Popular History of the Art of Music From the Earliest Times Until the Present 1874
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The desire for harmony, that is, the simultaneous sounding with the cantus firmus, tenor, or theme, of one or more voices on different intervals, first found expression in the so-called diaphony or "Organum" of Hucbald (840-930 or 932).
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 4: Clandestinity-Diocesan Chancery 1840-1916 1913
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Hucbald the Fleming, and running their harmony in a kind of diaphony a fifth below the melody.
Spirit and Music H. Ernest Hunt
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The contrary is the case in diaphony, which is the union of dissonant sounds. "
A Popular History of the Art of Music From the Earliest Times Until the Present 1874
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Again, much of the modern rhythmical complexity strongly resembles, in essence, the machine-made experiments of mediaeval times; and the peculiarly fashionable trick of shifting identical chords up and down the scale -- the clothes'-peg conception of harmony, so to speak -- is a mere throw-back still farther, to Hucbald and the diaphony of a thousand years ago.
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"Oxford History of Music" (1901), vol. I, p. 61, quotes from a treatise "De divisione naturae", by Scotus Erigena (d. 880), a passage, describing the organum, which would indicate that diaphony, even in the contrary motion, was in use in England previous to
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 4: Clandestinity-Diocesan Chancery 1840-1916 1913
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Coussemaker rendered great service to musical science by bringing to the notice of students the early development and history of harmony and counterpoint, as shown by the treatment of these divisions of music in that section of the "Musica Enchiriadis" in which diaphony is treated.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 4: Clandestinity-Diocesan Chancery 1840-1916 1913
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He called his system an "organum" or "diaphony," and to sing according to his rules was called to "organize" or
Critical and Historical Essays Lectures delivered at Columbia University Edward MacDowell 1884
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The difference between _discantus_ and _diaphony_ was that the latter consisted of several parts or voices, which, however, were more or less exact reproductions, at different pitch, of the principal or given melody, while the former was composed of entirely different melodic and rhythmic material.
Critical and Historical Essays Lectures delivered at Columbia University Edward MacDowell 1884
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