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.

At an event sponsored by the Domenico Bartolucci Foundation on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV said that polyphony is a musical form “full of meaning” for prayer and Christian life, and cited the works of the ...

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, ...

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 ...

Pope Francis greets choir members during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square in a file photo. (Credit: Paul Haring/CNS.) Listen Is contemporary Catholic church music “mediocre, superficial and ...

The Holy Father offered his praise to polyphonic music while welcoming participants at the June 18 event commemorating the 500th anniversary of the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, a ...