List of polytonal pieces explained

List of pieces using polytonality and/or bitonality.

• Samuel Barber
  • Symphony No. 2 (1944)
• Béla Bartók
  • Mikrokosmos Volume 5 number 125: The opening (mm. 1-76) of "Boating", (actually bimodality) in which the right hand uses pitches of E dorian and the left hand uses those of either G mixolydian or dorian^[1]
  • Mikrokosmos No. 105, "Playsong"^[2]
  • Bagatelles (1908) 1st Bagatelle, RH: C minor, LH: C Phrygian.^[3]
• Jeff Beal
  • Theme from House of Cards^[4]
• Heinrich Biber
  • Battalia à 10 (1673) ^[5]
• Benjamin Britten
  • Sea Interludes (1945)^[6]
  • Fanfare for St Edmundsbury (1959)
  • Folk Songs of the British Isles, Vol. 1, No. 6^[7]
• Vicente García
  • San Bá
• Alberto Ginastera
  • Danzas Argentinas - 1. "Danza del viejo boyero" (1937), RH: white keys, LH: black keys^[8]
• Philip Glass
  • Symphony No. 2, used for ambiguity^[9]
• Jerry Goldsmith
  • Planet of the Apes (1968)
  • Patton (1970)
  • The Omen (1976)
• Percy Grainger
  • Lincolnshire Posy
• Gustav Holst
  • The Planets (Neptune)
  • Terzetto for flute, oboe and viola
• Arthur Honegger
  • Symphony for Strings, III^[10]
• Bruce Hornsby
  • "What The Hell Happened" (from Halcyon Days, 2004)^[11]
• Charles Ives
  • Variations on "America" (1891-1892), polytonal interludes added 1909-1910^[12]
  • Adeste fidelis for organ (1897)^[13]
  • Sixty-seventh Psalm (1898–99)^[7]
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 (Ives) III. The Alcotts, presence of bitonality (right hand in B major and left hand in A major)^[14]
• Captain Beefheart
  • Frownland, from Trout Mask Replica (1969)^[15]
  • Hair Pie: Bake Two, from Trout Mask Replica (1969)
  • Petrified Forest, from Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970)
  • Making Love to a Vampire with a Monkey on My Knee, from Doc At The Radar Station (1980)
• John Kander
  • Cabaret (1966), in the Finale Ultimo
• Colin McPhee
  • Concerto for Piano, with Wind Octette Acc. (1928)^[16]
• Darius Milhaud^[17]
  • Scaramouche, in the first movement "Vif"
  • Sorocaba, from Saudades Do Brasil
  • Le Boeuf sur le toit
  • (1920)^[18]
• Ennio Morricone
  • The Untouchables (1987)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Ein musikalischer Spass^[17]

• Sergei Prokofiev
  • Lieutenant Kijé Suite (mov. V, "The Burial of Kijé")
  • Sarcasms, Op. 17. The third movement uses two different key signatures for each hand.^[19]
• Alfred Reed
  • A Festival Prelude
• Julius Röntgen
  • Symphony No. 9 "The Bitonal" (Sept 8, 1930)^[20]
• Arnold Schoenberg
  • "Gavotte", Suite for Piano Op. 25 (1923)^[21]
• William Schuman
  • George Washington Bridge^[22]
• Igor Stravinsky^[17]
  • Petrushka, opening fanfare
  • Symphony of Psalms - 3rd Movement
  • Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1947), rehearsal No. 11^[23]
  • "Rite of Spring"
• Karol Szymanowski
  • String Quartet No. 1 in C major Movement 3 (1917). Each part has its own key: Cello, C; Viola, 3 flats; Violin 2, 6 sharps; Violin 1, 3 sharps. See score.
• Jeff Wayne
  • The War of the Worlds - "The Red Weed (Parts 1 & 2)" (B and G major)^[24]

^[25]

• John Williams
  • Star Wars (1977)^[26]
  • Jaws (1975)
• John Zdechlik
  • Chorale and Shaker Dance

Notes and References

1. Stein, Deborah (2005). "Introduction to Musical Ambiguity" in Engaging Music: Essays in Music Analysis, p.82-3. New York: Oxford University Press. .
2. Kostka, Stefan and Payne, Dorothy (1995). Tonal Harmony, p.495. .
3. Ross, Alex (2007). The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, p.83. .
4. Web site: Jeff Beal Explains the House of Cards Theme. YouTube.
5. Web site: Biber. Heinrich Ignaz Franz von. Battalia à 10 . II. Die liederliche Gesellschaft von allerley Humor. imslp.org.
6. Wilkins, Margaret Lucy (2006). Creative Music Composition, p.78. .
7. Richardson, John (1999). Singing Archaeology: Philip Glass's Akhnaten, p.73. .
8. Hinson, Maurice (2000). Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire, p.334. .
9. "Philip Glass : Symphony No. 2", ChesterNovello.com.
10. DeLone, et al. (1975). Aspects of 20th Century Music, p.339. .
11. Diton, Robert (September 23, 2011). "Bruce Hornsby to bring the noise to Englewood", Examiner.com.
12. Latham, Alison (2004). The Oxford Dictionary of Musical Works, p.173. .
13. One of "2 Organ Pieces" (@IMSLP), published 1949
14. Web site: Ives. Charles. Piano Sonata No.2 'Concord, Mass., 1840–60'. II. The Alcotts. imslp.org.
15. Web site: Frownland by Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band: Analysis. YouTube.
16. Gagné, Nicole V. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music, p.171. .
17. [Rudolph Reti|Reti, Rudolph]
18. See https://imslp.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No.5%2C_Op.64_(Milhaud%2C_Darius)|IMSLP. Opens with themes in A, B modal (or F?) and C simultaneously, for example.
19. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/469182/polytonality Encyclopædia Britannica, "Polytonality (music)".
20. Gaudeamus. The life of Julius Röntgen (1855-1932). Composer and musician. Dr Jurjen Vis, Waanders Uitgevers Zwolle, 2007, Appendix 4, p.449
21. Maconie, Robin (2005). Other Planets, p.71. . "Has distinctly polytonal tendencies."
22. Swayne, Steve (2011). Orpheus in Manhattan: William Schuman and the Shaping of America's Musical Life, p.244. .
23. Berry, Wallace (1976). Structural Functions in Music, p.183n1. .
24. http://www.effectrode.com/analysis-structure-jeff-waynes-musical-version-war-worlds/ Anatomy of a Musical: An Analysis of the Structure of Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
25. Country Life, Volume 154, p.2015.
26. Karlin, Fred and Wright, Rayburn (2004). On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring, p.359. .