We have all heard it, yet most of us would not be able to name it. The term polyphony (from the Greek for “many sounds”) is used to describe music that employs simultaneous yet independent melodies.

Three remarkable new albums feature choral music spanning more than a millennium, including works by the world's earliest known female composer. From what is known, it seems Kassianí had an ...

A radiant Christmas celebration brought an emphatic account of Britten’s song cycle, together with past commissions by Welsh composers and newer works that perfectly complemented each other Halifax, ...

Editor’s note: To listen along as you read, click the links in the text. These pieces were performed for The Economist by the choir of Jesus College, Cambridge. IN 1605 Charles de Ligny, a Frenchman, ...