Neotonality

Neotonality (or neocentricity) is an inclusive term referring to musical compositions of the twentieth century in which the tonality of the common-practice period (i.e. functional harmony and tonic-dominant relationships) is replaced by one or several nontraditional tonal conceptions, such as tonal assertion or contrapuntal motion around a central chord. Although associated with the neoclassicism of Stravinsky and Les Six in France and Hindemith in Germany, neotonality is a broader concept, encompassing such nationalist composers as Bartók and Kodály in Hungary, Janáček and Martinů in Czechoslovakia, Vaughan Williams in England, Chávez and Revueltas in Mexico, Villa-Lobos in Brazil, and Ginastera in Argentina. Figures with less nationalistic ties such as Prokofiev, Shostakovich, William Walton, Britten, and Samuel Barber also are counted amongst neotonal composers.