diaphony

British  

/ daɪˈæfənɪ, ˌdaɪəˈfɒnɪk /

noun

1. a style of two-part polyphonic singing; organum or a freer form resembling it

2. (in classical Greece) another word for dissonance Compare symphony

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Other Word Forms

• diaphonic adjective

Etymology

Origin of diaphony

C17: from Late Latin diaphōnia, from Greek, from diaphōnos discordant, from _dia- + phōnē sound

Example Sentences

He mentions organum and diaphony, and remarks that he finds the succession of fifths and fourths very tiresome.

From A Popular History of the Art of Music From the Earliest Times Until the Present by Mathews, W. S. B. (William Smythe Babcock)

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.

From A Popular History of the Art of Music From the Earliest Times Until the Present by Mathews, W. S. B. (William Smythe Babcock)

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.

From A Popular History of the Art of Music From the Earliest Times Until the Present by Mathews, W. S. B. (William Smythe Babcock)

Now and again we find them "throwing back" to the days of Hucbald the Fleming, and running their harmony in a kind of diaphony a fifth below the melody.

From Spirit and Music by Hunt, H. Ernest

This question appears to have led to the practice of what Hucbald called "diaphony."

From A Popular History of the Art of Music From the Earliest Times Until the Present by Mathews, W. S. B. (William Smythe Babcock)