A cappella (Italian for "in the manner of the chapel") music is specifically group or solo singing without
instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It contrasts with
cantata, which is accompanied singing. The term "a cappella" was originally intended to differentiate between
Renaissance polyphony and Baroque
concertato style. In the 19th century a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. The term is also used, albeit rarely, as a synonym for
alla breve.