Musical collages are distinguished from other forms of musical borrowing because of the excessive amount and diversity of quoted material, as well as the degree to which the quoted material retains its individuality. Techniques for analyzing musical collages are few, and the process of modulation in musical collage still remains to be examined. The term “modulation” refers to the shift between distinct harmonic domains, the recurrence of a main or dominant sound world, and sharp contrasts and the efforts to reconcile these contrasts. There are several modulatory techniques of collages. Overlap is a technique that traverses the spectrum in terms of varying degrees of subtlety and can function on different conceptual levels. Types of overlap include pitch convergence, which encompasses pitch connections at different levels of abstraction, and textural dispersal/emergence, which is produced when two quotations sound simultaneously and are subjected to a process of fragmentation. In chromatic insertion, chromatic passages fulfill a modulatory function, filling in the intervening tonal space between surrounding passages of quotations. Finally, rhythmic plasticity denotes the ways in which the rhythmic profile of the music is manipulated in order gradually to introduce or to lead away from a quotation.

Works: Luciano Berio: Sinfonia (298-99, 302-4, 310-15, 326-27); George Rochberg: Music for the Magic Theater (299-300, 304-310, 318-27); Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Musique pour les Soupers du Roi Ubu (300-301, 305-307, 317-18, 326-27).

Sources: Mahler: Symphony No. 2 (298-99, 302-4, 310-12, 321-24); Mozart: Divertimento in B-flat Major, K. 287 (300-301, 307); Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (301, 304-5, 317-18); Wagner: Die Walküre (301, 304-305, 317-18).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Chelsea Hamm