Counterpoint, literally point against point, is the art of so composing
music in parts that several parts move simultaneously, making harmony by
their combination. During the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries the masters of counterpoint shaped the musical
materials in use to-day. So anxious were they to attain perfection of
form they often lost sight of the spirit which alone can give vitality
to musical utterances. The great Bach infused this into his fugues, the
highest manifestation of the contrapuntal, or polyphonic music of old.
Meanwhile the growth of the individual led to the growth of monophony
in music, in which one voice stands out prominently, with an
accompaniment of other voices. Its instrumental flower was reached in
the symphony. Melody reigns supreme in monophonic music. Both the canon
and the fugue form a commonwealth, in which all voices are rated alike.
Viewed rightly, this suits the modern democratic instinct, and there is
to-day a tendency to return to polyphonic writing.
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