diaphony

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• diaphonic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of diaphony¹

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

Example Sentences

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.

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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.

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Before this, however, and perhaps for some little time after, there were many organs in use, which were committed to the diaphony of Hucbald, having in place of the diapason three ranks of pipes, speaking an octave and the fifth between.

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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.

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

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