Eclecticism in music

In music, eclecticism is the conscious use of styles alien to the composer's own nature, or from a bygone era. The term is also used pejoratively to describe music whose composer, thought to be lacking originality, appears to have freely drawn on other models.[1] This word can also be used to describe the music of composers who combine multiple styles, such as using a whole-tone variant of a pentatonic folksong over chromatic counterpoint, or a tertian arpeggiating melody over quartal or secundal harmonies. Eclecticism can also occur through quotations, whether of a style,[n 1] direct quotations of folksongs/variations of them (for example, in Mahler's Symphony No. 1 - 2nd and 3rd movements) or direct quotations of other composers (for example, in Berio's Sinfonia - 3rd movement).[2]

See also

Notes
  1. For example, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9 calls back to Haydnesque classicism.

References
  1. Kennedy and Bourne 2006
  2. Cope 1997, p. 230–33

Sources
  • Kennedy, Michael, and Joyce Bourne (eds.). 2006. "Eclecticism", in The Oxford Dictionary of Music. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Cope, David 1997. "Decategorization." Techniques of the Contemporary Composer,. New York: Schirmer Books; London: Prentice Hall International. ISBN 9780028647371.


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