According to the modern medieval scholar
Ardis Butterfield, monophony "is the dominant mode of the European vernacular genres as well as of Latin song ... in polyphonic works, it remains a central
compositional principle."
Plainchant The earliest recorded Christian monophony was
plainchant or
plainsong (of which one well-known style was called
Gregorian chant) a single unaccompanied vocal melody sung by
monks. Sung by multiple voices in unison (i.e. the same pitch and rhythm), this music is still considered monophonic.
Plainsong was the first and foremost musical style of
Italy, Ireland, Spain, and France. In the early 9th century, the
organum tradition developed by adding voices in parallel to plainchant melodies. The earliest organum merely augmented the texture of the melody by adding a second voice in parallel
octaves or
parallel fifths, which could still be considered monophonic; however, by the 11th century the organum had developed a style called "free organum" in which the voices were more independent, evolving into a polyphonic tradition. (plainsong)
Plainchant styles Mozarabic chant,
Byzantine Chant,
Armenian chant,
Beneventan chant,
Ambrosian chant,
Gregorian chant and others were various forms of plainsong which were all monophonic. Many of these monophonic chants were written down, and contain the earliest
music notation to develop after the loss of the
ancient Greek system. For example,
Dodecachordon was published by the Swiss Renaissance composer
Heinrich Glarean (also Glareanus) and included
plainsong or
Gregorian chant and monophony. The earliest manuscripts which contain plainsong were written in
neumes, a primitive system which recorded only the outline of the melody, and it was not until the 11th century that
Guido d'Arezzo invented a more modern musical notation system that the exact notes of the melodies were preserved.
Troubador song monophony Most
troubadour songs were monophonic. Troubadour songs were written from 1100–1350 and they were usually poems about
chivalry or
courtly love with the words set to a melody. Aristocratic troubadours and
trouvères typically played in courtly performances for kings, queens, and countesses. Poets and composers in the 14th century produced many songs which can be seen as extensions of the
Provençal troubador tradition, such as secular monophonic lais and virelais.
Jehan de Lescurel (or Jehannot de l'Escurel), a poet and composer from northern
French from the
Trouvère style also wrote monophonic songs in the style of virelais, ballades, rondeaux and diz entés.
Minnesänger were similar to the French style but in Middle High German.
Geisslerlieder or Flagellant songs A tradition of
Lauda, or sacred songs in the style of Troubador songs, was popularized in the 13th and 14th centuries by
Geisslerlieder, or Flagellant songs. These monophonic
Laude spirituale songs were used in the 13th and 17th century by
flagellants, as recorded in the medieval chronicle
Chronicon Hugonis sacerdotis de Rutelinga (1349).
Lutheran church chorale Monophony was the first type of texture in the
Lutheran Church. A well-known example is
Martin Luther's hymn "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"), written as a monophonic tune sometime between 1527 and 1529. Many of Luther's hymns were later harmonized for multiple voices by other composers, and were also used in other polyphonic music such as the
cantatas of
Johann Sebastian Bach. ==Monophony with instrumental doubling==