If Byzantine music serves as the official musical language of the Greek Church, certainly polyphony can be characterized as the effort of a large part of the Greek people to articulate another musical voice within the same spaces where the ecclesiastical musical establishment holds the primary and often unique authority.

The Greek polyphonic ecclesiastical music, samples of which can be traced back to the 15th century Byzantine era, marks its historical course between Crete, the Ionian Islands, and the advanced centers of Hellenism in Western Europe, ultimately reaching the core Greek region and being established, albeit with the tolerance of the ecclesiastical ruling class.

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[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]