pantonality

views updated

pantonality. Term coined by R. Réti in 1958 to describe extension of tonality in late 19th cent., as developed by Debussy, Wagner, and others, whereby the mus. cannot be said to be ‘in’ a key but moves in and out of discernible key centres without becoming atonal. Thus it applies to mus. by Bartók, Hindemith, Stravinsky, and others.