Texture in late twentieth century music

Abstract

First of all, the three main textural types-monophony, homophony and polyphony-will be considered. Then the other specific contributions of the latter part of the twentieth century to the manner the musical space is filled will be studied. Essentially the main trends have been the elevation of colour as one of the ingredients of the texture, the liberation of the whole musical space, the creation of new types of polyphony, and the opening to non-Western influences. Unfortunately it was not within the scope of the present essay to delve deeply into every aspect - the discussion was mainly restricted to the materials that make up the texture. Neither was it possible to focus more in detail on the more recent trends of Minimalism and Neo-Romanticism. At this stage it is impossible to predict which type of music will dominate the twenty-first century. However, I believe that the conquests of the composers of this century will form part of the technical baggage of those of the next. I think that is impossible to return to the textures of the previous centuries without appearing (or, rather, sounding) déjà-vu.