Note 98 — Chapter IX · THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
Reading edition
The word monody may be applied to the purely melodic, unaccompanied music of ancient times and the plain-song era, which, however, is better described as homophony, in contradistinction to monody in the present sense, namely, solo melody with instrumental accompaniment. In monodic music the upper voice predominates throughout and determines the harmonic structure. In vocal polyphony, or counterpoint, the principal voice (cantus firmus) was usually in the tenor, and had no such determining significance.