Polyphony vs. Counterpoint

It took me quite a long time, and lots of research, to discover the difference between counterpoint and polyphony.  Kennedy and Kennedy (2007:588:1:3) describe Polyphony as three of more independent melodic lines, which run simultaneously as opposed to monophonic or homophonic.  However in the same book, counterpoint is described as “a combination of simultaneous parts…each of significance in itself and the while resulting in a coherent texture.”(170:1:5)  So, in its simplest form, the only difference I can see between the two is that counterpoint focuses on melodic flow, regardless of harmony (often causing dissonance), whereas polyphony focuses on multiple lines, each of equal importance that are designed to fit together harmonic consonance.  Therefore in counterpoint, chord triads only occur as a result of notes on multiple melodic lines merging a given points.  However, it is of course possible to have polyphonic contrapuntual composition! 

When researching counterpoint I found some interesting information about ‘Species Counterpoint’.  Fux, J. (1965) describes species counterpoint and have 5 set rules or ‘species’.  The first species of counterpoint is called ‘note on note’ counterpoint, meaning that to each note in the first melody, the opposing melodies also contain one note.  The second species ‘two notes to one note’, means that to each note in the first melody, the others contain two notes.  The third species consists of four or more notes to each note in the first melody and the fourth species is described as ‘notes offset against each other’, meaning notes that they fit between the notes of the first melody.  The fifth species of counterpoint is sometimes referred to as ‘florid counterpoint’ and contains a combination of the above species in the same composition. 

The historical development of polyphony as described by Ball (2010:145), was also very interesting.  He writes, “At first this (Polyphony) was restricted to identical melodies moving in parallel a certain interval apart, generally in one of the classical consonances of a fourth, a fifth or an octave…By the end of the eleventh century, the variants were more sophisticated, combining these parallel and ‘oblique’ (divergent) motions with contrary motion.”