Polymodal Chromaticism

If I understand Bartok's idea of it, polymodal chromaticism was his answer to Schoenberg's twelve-tone method, superimposing different modes to get something similar to a chromatic scale.

I don't understand how the scales created by superimposing modes are any different than a chromatic scale. If it has all the notes, how is it different? Is it like polytonality with modes? Or is it just using different modes to get a scale with the same notes?

Well, playing C Mixolydian (C D E F G A Bb) against G# Phrygian (G# A B C# D# E F#) gives you each note, but writing using a technique that's just superimposing those two modes is certainly different than writing a row. Just playing the scales together ascending yields these dyads:

G# A B C# D# E F#
C  D E F  G  A Bb[/CODE]

This, as you can tell, if very different from playing a row.

Well, I don't claim to know much on the subject but wouldn't superimposing the modes still leave some sort of tonal center (even if all 12 tones are being sounded)? A chromatic scale doesn't have a natural tonal center so this way, Bartok could still keep his tonal centers while being free to use all 12 tones.

A chromatic scale doesn't have a natural tonal center so this way, Bartok could still keep his tonal centers while being free to use all 12 tones.

That's exactly what Bartok intended, to prove that you could use all 12 notes without becoming atonal. His other method was the Axis System (which I personally adore). :thumbsup: