The rise of homophony in the Classical period represents a major turnaround in musical technique, for though Baroque composers wrote some homophonic pieces, as we have seen, the predominant texture of their music was polyphonic.

Yet it is not the way of history to abandon important resources of the past completely. Classical composers rejected Baroque music, but they cautiously retained the basic principle of counterpoint. They were able to do this by refining it into a more delicate, unobtrusive kind of counterpoint than that of the Baroque era. And there was a sharper awareness now of counterpoint’s expressive possibilities. In a texture that was mostly “natural” and homophonic, counterpoint attracted special attention; this texture could be used to create the impression of tension, of one line rubbing against another. The more intense, artificial texture of polyphony stood out against natural homophonic texture.

Hence, as we will see in the next chapter, the section in Classical sonata form called the development section, whose basic function is to build up tension, typically involves contrapuntal textures. Sonata form was the most important musical form of the time, and so counterpoint was often heard.