Poly texture

In music theory and composition theory , the polytexture refers to a process in which text parts lying one behind the other are set to simultaneously progressing melodies. The polytexture method was used in particular for the Missa brevis in order to keep the setting of the long texts of the Gloria and Credo short.

Examples

• Jacob Obrecht : Factor Orbis
• Johann Sebastian Bach : Domine Deus from the B minor Mass (BWV 232)
• Joseph Haydn : Missa brevis Sancti Ioannis de Deo (Hob.XXII: 7)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Missa brevis in D minor (KV 65), Spatzenmesse (KV 220), organ solo mass (KV 259)
• Luigi Cherubini : Dies Irae from the Requiem in D minor
• Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy : Quintet from the 42nd Psalm , Aperi oculos tuos from the Vespers song
• Samuel Barber : Agnus Dei (Adagio for Strings) , op.11
• Edward Elgar : Death on the Hills , op.72