bitonalityn.
Music.
The simultaneous use of two keys in a musical composition.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > [noun] > style by tonal organization > specific
enharmonic1603
chromaticism1879
atonality1922
polytonality1923
bitonality1927
diatonism1927
atonalism1928
quarter-tonality1930
diatonicism1931
pentatonism1931
tritonality1931
pandiatonicism1937
microtonality1946
pantonality1946
dodecaphonism1951
dodecaphony1952
serialism1955
pentatonicism1958
minimalism1981
tonalism1990
1927 A. E. Hull Mus. Class. Romantic & Mod. xvii. 317 Atonality, Bi-tonality and Polytonality are the technical catch-words of the day... Bi-tonality is a richer kind of counterpoint (or harmony), produced by two melodies (or harmonic streams) which proceed simultaneously, each in its own key.
1945 Times 28 Sept. 7/5 His [sc. Bartok's] Fourteen Bagatelles (1908), trifles maybe, but exploiting modern devices like bitonality and irregular rhythm, are fairly well known.
Derivatives
biˈtonal adj. characterized by bitonality.
ΚΠ
1927 A. E. Hull Mus. Class. Romantic & Mod. xvii. 318 Bi-tonality in two harmonic streams arose from the isolated bi-tonal chords, so frequently found in the works of Strauss and the French impressionists of the period 1900–10.
1956 W. Mellers in A. Pryce Jones New Outl. Mod. Knowl. 360 The result is a bitonal ambiguity between major and minor.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online December 2015).
<
n.1927