Monody/Monophony/Homophony

[elsie07]

What is the difference between monody, monophony, and homophony?

I understand that monophony is one line of music with no accompaniment, such as unison singing or singing at the octave; and that homophony is two or more interdependent lines of music, such one melodic line supported by a harmony.

In my music history textbook, where I am studying medieval music, it defines monody as "a single melody with minimal supporting accompaniment."  But wouldn't this be considered homophony?

I looked it up online, and this is what Wikipedia said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophony#Melody-dominated_homophony

"Monody is similar to melody-dominated homophony in that one voice becomes the melody, while another voice assumes the underlying harmony.  Monody, however, is characterized by a single voice with instrumental accompaniment, whereas melody-dominated homophony refers to a broader category of homophonic music, which includes works for multiple voices, not just works for solo voice, as was the tradition with early 17th century Italian monody."

And here is what medieval.org says about this question:
https://www.medieval.org/emfaq/misc/homophony.html

"In the development of the more soloistic style which was one of the driving forces in the origin of the Baroque, and with it modern tonality, emphasis was shifted to a single upper line for melodic interest as accompanied by instrumental parts to fill a harmonic texture.  In a prototypical example, the latter could be chords on a lute.  Monody was the name given to this style.  From this perspective, one might note that even recent orchestral music is frequently monodic: i.e. a primary melody in the upper range accompanied harmonically.  There is some lingering overlap between the terms homophony and monody.  The term monody emphasizes the distinct or soloistic role of the main melody, while the term homophony emphasizes the concord and alignment between voices in the texture."

I understand these explanations, but I still don't know how to determine when a piece is monodic or homophonic.  Can someone clarify this for me?  Where is the line drawn?  Or is there a line?  I'm assuming there are no definite rules regarding the classification of pieces as monodic/homophonic, but can anyone offer some general, identifying characteristics of each category?

I'm taking a five-week class this summer and I have exams in seventeen out of eighteen classes; this material will probably be covered on at least one exam so if I could have some help soon that would be great!  I would ask my professor, but he is rather hard to approach with questions.  I wish I had my music appreciation professor from last semester - he was SO helpful and always willing to sit down and talk about the course material.  I remember one time I chatted with him about counterpoint for half an hour!  That was fun.

Thanks very much!

[elsie07]

Ok, so I've been thinking about this more, and I think I get it.

Monody:
- One part dominates over the other parts, with the other parts (vocal or instrumental) playing or singing a simple, chordal accompaniment.  In vocal music (maybe instrumental too?) this would be a solo.

Homophony:
- All parts are equal and very similar in rhythm.

So I guess you could call monody "soloistic homophony": homophony with a thinner texture and placing emphasis on one part over the others, somewhere between monophony and homophony.

[elsie07]

In my college music history class, I am listening to "Sans cuer dolens" by Machaut.  (I don't know how to post a recording so hopefully someone will be familiar with this piece.)

I am pretty sure it is monodic, because there is a soloist singing the main melody, and below her, very quietly, is another singer harmonizing.  On the other hand, wouldn't this be polyphony??    It is two separate, independent melodies, harmonizing together.  I'm so confused!