Polymodal chromaticism

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In music, polymodal chromaticism is the use of any and all

total chromatic). Alternately it is the free alteration of the other notes in a mode once its tonic has been established.[1]

The term was coined by composer, ethnomusicologist, and pianist Béla Bartók.[2] The technique became a means in Bartók's composition to avoid, expand, or develop major-minor tonality[3] (i.e. common practice harmony). This approach differed from that used by Arnold Schoenberg and his followers in the Second Viennese School and later serialists.

The concept was indicated by Bartók's folk-music-derived view of each note of the chromatic scale as being "of equal value" and thus to be used "freely and independently" (autobiography) and supported by references to the conception below in his Harvard Lectures (1943).

degrees from both major and minor' (E and B, E♭ and A♭, respectively) [Kárpáti 1975][5] p. 132)".[1]

Bartók had realised that both

functional non-altered version. Alterations in the twelve-tone Phrygian/Lydian polymode, the other hand, were "diatonic ingredients of a diatonic modal scale."[6]

Phrygian mode (C) C–D♭–E♭–F–G–A♭–B♭–C
Lydian mode (C) C–D–E–F♯–G–A–B–C
Twelve-tone Phrygian/Lydian polymode (C) C–D♭–D–E♭–E–F–F♯–G–A♭–A–B♭–B–C
Twelve-tone Phrygian-Lydian polymode Playⓘ.

Melodies could be developed and transformed in novel ways through diatonic extension and chromatic compression, while still having coherent links to their original forms. Bartók described this as a new means to develop a melody.

Bartók started to superimpose all possible diatonic modes on each other in order to extend and compress melodies in ways that suited him, unrestricted by Baroque-Romantic tonality as well as strict serial methods such as the twelve-tone technique.

In 1941, Bartók's ethnomusicological studies brought him into contact with the music of Dalmatia and he realised that the Dalmatian folk-music used techniques that resembled polymodal chromaticism. Bartók had defined and used polymodal chromaticism in his own music before this. The discovery inspired him to continue to develop the technique.

Examples of Bartók's use of the technique include No. 80 ("Hommage à

Mikrokosmos featuring C Phrygian/Lydian (C–D♭–E♭–F–G–A♭–B♭–C/C–D–E–F♯–G–A–B–C).[7] Lendvai identifies the technique in the late works of Modest Mussorgsky, Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, and Giuseppe Verdi.[8]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-300-05111-5
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  2. ISBN 978-0-8108-4427-8
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  3. ISBN 978-0-945193-19-7
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  4. ^ Bartok Essays, pp. 367 and 376. cited in Kárṕati (1994), p. 175.
  5. ^ Kárpáti, János (1975). Bartók's String Quartets, p. 132. Translated by Fred MacNicol. Budapest: Corvina Press. Cited in Wilson 1992.
  6. OCLC 60900461
    .
  7. ^ Suchoff (2002), p.130.
  8. ^ Lendvai, Ernő (1979). Bartók and Kodály, Volume 4, p. 98. Institute for Culture.
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