Centonisation
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music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
centonization (from Latin ''cento'' or patchwork) is
musical composition Musical composition can refer to an Originality, original piece or work of music, either Human voice, vocal or Musical instrument, instrumental, the musical form, structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new pie ...
via the combination of pre-existing motivic units, typically in reference to Christian liturgical
chant A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of no ...
. A piece created using centonization is known as a "centonate". The concept of centonization was borrowed from literary theory, and first applied to
Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...
in 1934 by Dom ; it has since also been applied to
Byzantine chant Byzantine music () originally consisted of the songs and hymns composed for the courtly and religious ceremonial of the Byzantine Empire and continued, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, in the traditions of the sung Byzantine chant of East ...
.


Overview

Centonization, according to Ferretti's theory, is a very old and widespread technique. The
musical mode In music theory, the term mode or ''modus'' is used in a number of distinct senses, depending on context. Its most common use may be described as a type of musical scale coupled with a set of characteristic melodic and harmonic behaviors. It ...
s used in
Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...
are supposed to reflect this use; according to the theory, the modes were more collections of appropriate melodic formulas than a set of pitches. Similar ideas appear in the music theory of other cultures; for example, the
maqam Maqam, makam, maqaam or maqām (plural maqāmāt) may refer to: Musical structures * Arabic maqam, melodic modes in traditional Arabic music ** Iraqi maqam, a genre of Arabic maqam music found in Iraq * Persian maqam, a notion in Persian clas ...
of Arab music, the
raga A raga ( ; , ; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. It is central to classical Indian music. Each raga consists of an array of melodic structures with musical motifs; and, fro ...
of Indian music, or the
pathet Pathet (, also patet) is an organizing concept in central Javanese gamelan music in Indonesia. It is a system of tonal hierarchies in which some notes are emphasized more than others. The word means '"to damp, or to restrain from" in Javanese ...
of Indonesian music. These do not designate merely
scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...
, but sets of appropriate melodies and specific
ornaments An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Ornamental turning *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals tha ...
on certain tones (they are sometimes called "melody types"). The originality of the composer lies in how he or she links these formulas together and elaborates upon them in a new way. Regardless of whether the application of the concept to other branches of Christian chant, or other types of music is valid, its use with respect to Gregorian chant has been severely criticized, and opposing models have been proposed. The term "centonate" is not applied to other categories of composition constructed from pre-existing units, such as ''fricassée'', ''
pasticcio In music, a ''pasticcio'' or ''pastiche'' is an opera or other musical work composed of works by different composers who may or may not have been working together, or an adaptation or localization of an existing work that is loose, unauthorized, ...
'', ''
potpourri Potpourri ( ) is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant materials used to provide a gentle natural scent, commonly in residential settings. It is often placed in a decorative bowl. Etymology The word "potpourri" comes into English from ...
'', and ''
quodlibet A quodlibet (; Latin for "whatever you wish" from '' quod'', "what" and '' libet'', "pleases") is a musical composition that combines several different melodies—usually popular tunes—in counterpoint, and often in a light-hearted, humorous ma ...
''.


See also

*
Melody type Melody type or type-melody is a set of melody, melodic formulas, figure (music), figures, and melodic pattern, patterns. Term and typical meanings "Melody type" is a fundamental notion for understanding a nature of Western and non-Western mus ...
*
Modal frame A modal frame in music is "a number of types permeating and unifying Music of Africa, African, Music of Europe, European, and Music of the United States, American song" and melody., quoted in Richard Middleton (1990/2002). ''Studying Popular Musi ...


References


Citations


Sources

* * * {{cite journal , last=Treitler , first=Leo , date=Spring 1975 , title='Centonate' Chant: ''Übles Flickwerk'' or ''E pluribus unus''? , journal=Journal of the American Musicological Society , volume=28 , issue=1 , pages=1–23, doi=10.2307/830914 , jstor=830914 Melody Medieval music theory