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.

The Pope has called for a revival of the sacred music of the church's past. After folk and rock 'n' roll Masses, what will the faithful make of polyphony, asks Aengus Collins Earlier this summer a ...

William Mahrt, a towering figure in sacred music, left a legacy of preserving the Church’s traditional liturgical songs. Noted sacred music scholar William “Bill” Mahrt died Jan. 1 at the age of 85.

One of the iconic sources of English sacred polyphony, the Eton Choirbook is now missing a third of its original contents.

A concert of Renaissance Christmas music might seem like an odd place for a world premiere, but a new composition by Nico Muhly found a way to harmonize with the polyphony of Palestrina, Byrd, and ...

ON a swelteringly hot morning in this elegant capital city recently, worshippers crammed in the ornately frescoed sixth-century Anchiskhati Basilica. Women in colorful head scarves prayed and kissed ...

Performances at Trinity Cathedral and the Musical Instrument Museum will feature sacred works for Holy Week and a spring-themed program marking the ensemble’s MIM debut. The Phoenix Chorale will ...

Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox. When Italian Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo caught his wife and her lover in flagrante and murdered them both in ...

The Glee Club and Choral Society have just issued a 12-inch record of Sixteenth Century music, mostly Palestrina, with selections of Byrd, Lassus, and Amerio (Cambridge, CRS405). Some of this is a ...

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, ...