View source for Chromaticism

{{Short description|Compositional technique in music}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{technical|date=November 2022}}
{{overly detailed|date=November 2022}}
}}

[[File:Lament bass.png|thumb|right|300px|[[Chromatic fourth]]: lament bass bassline in Dm (D–C{{music|#}}–C({{music|natural}})–B–B{{music|b}}–A)[[File:Lament bass.mid]]]]
[[File:Chromatic notes diagram.png|thumb|300px|The diatonic scale notes (above) and the non-scale chromatic notes (below)<ref name="Forte">[[Allen Forte|Forte, Allen]], ''Tonal Harmony'', third edition (S.l.: Holt, Rinehart, and Wilson, 1979): p. 4. {{ISBN|0-03-020756-8}}. Original in B{{music|b}} uses only natural signs and sharps since it is depicted rising.</ref>]]

'''Chromaticism''' is a [[compositional technique]] interspersing the primary [[diatonic scale|diatonic]] [[pitch (music)|pitches]] and [[chord (music)|chords]] with other pitches of the [[chromatic scale]]. In simple terms, within each octave, diatonic music uses only seven different notes, rather than the twelve available on a standard piano keyboard. Music is chromatic when it uses more than just these seven notes.

[[Chromatic]]ism is in contrast or addition to [[tonality]] or [[diatonic and chromatic|diatonicism]] and [[modality (music)|modality]] (the [[major scale|major]] and [[minor scale|minor]], or "white key", scales). Chromatic elements are considered, "elaborations of or substitutions for diatonic scale members".<ref name="Brown">Matthew Brown; Schenker, "The Diatonic and the Chromatic in Schenker's "Theory of Harmonic Relations", ''Journal of Music Theory'', Vol. 30, No. 1 (Spring 1986), pp. 1–33, citation on p.&nbsp;1.</ref>

==Development of chromaticism==
[[File:Chromatic Scale & Chromaticism - BassLessons.tv.webm|alt=|thumb|Contemporary [[jazz]] and [[rock music|rock]] [[bass guitar]]ist [[Joseph Patrick Moore]] demonstrating chromaticism (video)]]

Chromaticism began to develop in the late [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]] period, notably in the 1550s, often as part of ''[[musica reservata]]'', in the music of [[Cipriano de Rore]], in [[Orlando Lasso]]'s ''[[Prophetiae Sibyllarum]]'', and in the theoretical work of [[Nicola Vicentino]].

The following timeline is abbreviated from its presentation by Benward & Saker:<ref name="B&S43">Benward & Saker (2003), pp. 42–43.</ref>
:'''Baroque Period''' (1600—1750) "The system of major and minor scales developed during the early part of the baroque period. This coincided with the emergence of key consciousness in music."<ref name="B&S43"/>
:'''Classical Period''' (1750—1825) "The major and minor keys were the basis of music in the classical period. Chromaticism was decorative for the most part and shifts from one key to another...were used to create formal divisions."<ref name="B&S43"/>
:'''Romantic Period''' (1825—1900) "Chromaticism increased to the point that the major—minor key system began to be threatened. By the end of the period, keys often shifted so rapidly in the course of a composition that tonality itself began to break down."<ref name="B&S43"/>
:'''Post-Romantic and Impressionistic Period''' (1875—1920) "With the breakdown of the major—minor key system, impressionist composers began to experiment with other scales....particularly...pentatonic, modal, and whole-tone scales."<ref name="B&S43"/>
:'''Contemporary Period''' (1920—present) "The chromatic scale has predominated in much of the music of our period."<ref name="B&S43"/>
:'''Jazz and Popular Music''' (1900—present) "Popular music has remained the last bastion of the major-minor key system... The [[blues scale]] ["a chromatic variant of the major scale"<!--p. 39-->] is often found in jazz and popular music with blues influence."<ref name="B&S43"/>

[[File:Mixture of mode chromatic substitution.png|300px|thumb|Mode mixture, using minor triads in the major key<ref name="Forte498">Forte (1979), p. 498.</ref>]]
[[File:Fifteenth chord from Schoenberg on C.png|thumb|Final chord of [[Arnold Schoenberg]]'s ''[[Sechs kleine Klavierstücke]]'', 2nd movement,<ref>{{cite book |last=Shawn |first=Allen |date=2003 |title=Arnold Schoenberg's Journey |page=120 |publisher=Harvard |isbn=9780674011014 |quote=Technically a fifteenth chord}}</ref> in thirds: C–E–G–B–D{{music|#}}–F{{music|#}}–A{{music|#}}–C{{music|X}}[[File:Fifteenth chord from Schoenberg on C.mid]]]]

As tonality began to expand during the last half of the nineteenth century, with new combinations of chords, keys and harmonies being tried, the chromatic scale and chromaticism became more widely used, especially in the works of [[Richard Wagner]], such as the opera "[[Tristan und Isolde]]". Increased chromaticism is often cited as one of the main causes or signs of the "breakdown" of tonality, in the form of increased importance or use of:
*[[mode mixture]]
*[[leading tone]]s
*[[tonicization]] of each chromatic step and other [[secondary supertonic chord|secondary key]] areas
*[[modulatory space]]
*hierarchical organizations of the chromatic set such as [[George Perle]]'s
*the use of non-tonal chords as tonic "keys"/"scales"/"areas" such as the [[Tristan chord]].

As tonal harmony continued to widen and even break down, the chromatic scale became the basis of modern music written using the [[twelve-tone technique]], a [[tone row]] being a specific ordering or series of the chromatic scale, and later [[serialism]]. Though these styles/methods continue to (re)incorporate tonality or tonal elements, often the trends that led to these methods were abandoned, such as modulation.

===Types of chromaticism===
[[File:Cesar Franck Variations Symphoniques mm 5-9 excerpt with 'chromatic analysis'.png|thumb|300px|This phrase from [[Cesar Franck]]'s ''[[Variations symphoniques]]'' (1885), mm. 5–9, demonstrates chromaticism from use of [[parallel key]]s ([[borrowed chord]]s), that "chordal structures&nbsp;... [may be] partially resultants of the descending bass lines" and that "chromatic evasiveness internally in the phrases [may be] countered by cadence strength and clarity", such as the "resolute movement from [[secondary dominant|V of V]] to [[dominant (music)|V]] to [[tonic (music)|I]]".<ref>Cooper (1975), p. 216. Original with Roman numeral analysis only.</ref>[[File:Cesar Franck Variations Symphoniques mm 5-9 excerpt with 'chromatic analysis'.mid]]]]
[[File:Alexander Scriabin Op. 48, No. 4, mm.15-24 chromaticism from extended chords.png |thumb |300px |Chromaticism from "linear considerations" [voice leading], borrowed chords, and extended chords from the ending of [[Alexander Scriabin]]'s ''Preludes'', Op.&nbsp;48, No.&nbsp;4; "though most vertical sonorities include the seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth, the basic harmonic progressions are strongly anchored to the concept of root movement by fifths".<ref>Cooper (1975), p. 229. Original with Roman numeral analysis only.</ref>[[File:Alexander Scriabin Op. 48, No. 4, mm.15-24 chromaticism from extended chords.mid]]]]

[[David Cope]]<ref>Cope, David (1997). ''Techniques of the Contemporary Composer'', p. 15. New York, New York: Schirmer Books. {{ISBN| 0-02-864737-8}}.</ref> describes three forms of chromaticism: modulation, borrowed chords from secondary keys, and chromatic chords such as [[augmented sixth chord]]s.

{{Blockquote|The chromatic expansion of tonality which characterizes much of nineteenth century music is illustrated in miniature by the substitution of a chromatic harmony for an expected diatonic harmony. This technique resembles the [[deceptive cadence]], which involves the substitution of another diatonic chord for the expected diatonic goal harmony.<ref>Forte (1979), p. 497.</ref> ...<br/>
In the major mode a substitute chromatic consonance often proves to be a triad which has been taken from the parallel minor mode. This process ["assimilation"]...is called ''mixture of mode'' or simply ''mixture''... Four consonant triads from the minor mode may replace their counterparts in the major mode. These we call ''chromatic triads by mixture''.<ref name="Forte498"/>
|Allen Forte (1979)}}

The [[total chromatic]] is the collection of all twelve [[equal temperament|equally tempered]] [[pitch class]]es of the chromatic scale.

List of chromatic chords:
*Dominant [[seventh chord]]s of [[Tonicization|subsidiary keys]], used to create [[modulation (music)|modulation]]s to those keys (V<sup>7</sup>–I cadences)
*Augmented sixth chords
*[[Neapolitan sixth]] chords as chromatic [[subdominant]]s
*Diminished seventh chords as chromatic vii{{music|dim}}<sup>7</sup>
*[[Altered chord]]s
*Expanded chords
**Shir-Cliff, Jay, and Rauscher (1965)<ref name="Shir-Cliff">Justin Shir-Cliff, Stephen Jay, and Donald J. Rauscher (1965). ''Chromatic Harmony''. New York: The Free Press.{{Page needed |date=September 2016}} {{ISBN|0-02-928630-1}}.</ref>

Other types of chromaticity:
*[[Pitch axis theory]]
*Parallel scales
*[[Nonchord tone]]
*The minor mode in major keys ([[mode mixture]])
**Shir-Cliff, Jay, and Rauscher (1965)<ref name="Shir-Cliff"/>

==Chromatic note==
[[File:Dizzy Gillespie - "Hot House" solo - linear chromaticism.png|thumb|right|330px|One of seven examples of linear chromaticism from [[Dizzy Gillespie]]'s solo from "[[Hot House (composition)|Hot House]]"<ref name="Coker" />[[File:Dizzy Gillespie - "Hot House" solo - linear chromaticism.mid]] or {{YouTube|id=i06rjXGH_KI&t=3m33s|title=Listen}}]]

{{Blockquote|Notes which do not belong to the key [those, "that lie within the major 2nds," of the diatonic scale] are called ''chromatic'' notes.|[[Allen Forte]] (1979)<ref name="Forte"/>}}

A chromatic note is one which does not belong to the scale of the key prevailing at the time. Similarly, a chromatic chord is one which includes one or more such notes. A chromatic and a diatonic note, or two chromatic notes, create chromatic intervals.

{{Blockquote|When one note of an interval is chromatic or when both notes are chromatic, the entire interval is called chromatic. Chromatic intervals arise by raising or lowering one or both notes of a diatonic interval, so that the interval is made larger or smaller by the interval of half step ["altered diatonic intervals"].|[[Allen Forte]] (1979)<ref>Forte (1979), pp. 19–20.</ref>}}

A chromatic scale is one which proceeds entirely by semitones, so dividing the [[octave]] into twelve equal steps of one semitone each.

Linear chromaticism is used in [[jazz]]: "All improvised lines ... will include non-harmonic, chromatic notes." Similar to in the [[bebop scale]] this may be the result of metric issues, or simply the desire to use a portion of the chromatic scale<ref name="Coker">[[Jerry Coker|Coker, Jerry]] (1997). ''Elements of the Jazz Language for the Developing Improvisor'', p. 81. {{ISBN|1-57623-875-X}}.</ref>

=={{anchor|Chromatic harmony|Chord|Chords|Harmony|Harmonies|Chromatic harmonies|Chromatic triad|Chromatic triads|Triad|Triads}}Chromatic chord==
<!--[[Chromatic chord]], [[chromatic triad]], and [[chromatic harmony]] redirect directly here.-->
{{Main|Altered chord}}

{{Blockquote|By chromatic linear chord is meant simply a chord entirely of linear origin which contains one or more chromatic notes. A great many of these chords are to be found in the literature.|Allen Forte (1979)<ref>Forte (1979), p. 352.</ref>}}
{{Blockquote|[During the Romantic period] There was more prominent use of chromatic harmony, which employs chords containing tones not found in the prevailing major or minor scale. ... Chromatic chords add color and motion to romantic music. Dissonant, or unstable, chords were also more freely than during the classical era. By deliberately delaying the resolution of dissonance to a consonant, or stable, chord, romantic composers created [[music and emotion|feelings]] of yearning, tension, and mystery.|[[Roger Kamien]] (1976)<ref>Kamien, Roger (1990). ''Music: An Appreciation'', p. 174. Brief edition. McGraw-Hill. {{ISBN|0-07-033568-0}}.</ref>}}

{{Image frame|content=<score sound="1">
   \new PianoStaff <<
      \new Staff <<
         \new Voice \relative c'' {
             \stemUp \clef treble \key c \major \time 4/4
             des2 b c1
             }
         \new Voice \relative c'' {
             \stemDown
             aes2 g g1
             }
            >>
     \new Staff <<
         \new Voice \relative c' {
             \stemUp \clef bass \key c \major \time 4/4
             f2 d e1
             }
         \new Voice \relative c' {
             \stemDown
             f,2 g c,1 \bar "||"
             }
         >>
    >>
</score>|width=300|caption={{music|b}}II{{music|6 chord}}–V–I in C minor}}

A chromatic chord is a musical [[chord (music)|chord]] that includes at least one note not belonging in the [[diatonic scale]] associated with the prevailing [[key (music)|key]], the use of such chords is the use of chromatic harmony. In other words, at least one note of the chord is [[alteration (music)|chromatically altered]]. Any chord that is not [[chromatic]] is a ''[[diatonic chord]]''.

{{Image frame|content=<score sound="1">
   \new PianoStaff <<
      \new Staff <<
         \new Voice \relative c'' {
             \stemUp \clef treble \key c \major \time 4/4
             f2 es d1 c
             }
         \new Voice \relative c'' {
             \stemDown
              <a c>1 <f b> <e g>
              }
            >>
     \new Staff <<
         \new Voice \relative c {
             \clef bass \key c \major \time 4/4
             f2 fis g1 c \bar "||"
             }
         >>
    >>
</score>|width=300|caption=IV-{{music|#}}iv{{music|dim}}7–V7–I}}

For example, in the key of C major, the following chords (all diatonic) are naturally built on each degree of the scale:
*I = C major triad [contains pitch classes C E G]
*ii = D minor triad [contains D F A]
*iii = E minor triad [contains E G B]
*IV = F major triad [contains F A C]
*V = G major triad [contains G B D]
*vi = A minor triad [contains A C E]
*vii{{music|dim}} = B diminished triad [contains B D F]

{{Image frame|content=<score sound="1">
    {
      \new PianoStaff <<
        \new Staff <<
            \relative c' {
                \clef treble \key c \minor \time 4/4
                fis1 g
                }
            >>
        \new Staff <<
            \relative c' {
                \clef bass \key c \minor \time 4/4
                aes1 g \bar "||"
                }
            >>
    >> }
</score>|width=300|caption=The interval of the [[augmented sixth]] normally resolves outwards by semitone to an octave.}}

However, a number of other chords may also be built on the degrees of the scale, and some of these are chromatic. Examples:
*{{music|flat}}II in first inversion is called the [[Neapolitan chord|Neapolitan]] [[sixth chord]]. For example, in C Major: F–A{{music|flat}}–D{{music|flat}}. The Neapolitan Sixth chord resolves to the V.
*The {{music|#}}iv diminished chord is the [[sharpened subdominant with diminished seventh]] chord. For example: F{{music|#}}–A–C–E{{music|flat}}. The {{music|#}}IV diminished chord resolves to the V. The {{music|#}}IV can also be understood as the [[tonicization]] of V where it functions as vii{{music|dim}}7 of the V chord, written vii{{music|dim}}7/V.
*{{music|b}}VI: The [[augmented sixth chord]], A{{music|b}}–C(–C, D, or E{{music|b}})–F{{music|#}}, resolves to the V.
*Consonant chromatic triads, modulation to these triads would be [[chromatic modulation]]:
**{{music|b}}III, {{music|b}}VI, {{music|b}}II, {{music|#}}iv, vii, and {{music|flat}}VII in major
**{{music|natural}}iii, {{music|natural}}vi, {{music|b}}II, {{music|#}}iv, ii, and {{music|natural}}vii in minor.

==Chromatic line==
In [[music theory]], {{lang|la|italic=no|[[chromatic fourth|passus duriusculus]]}} is a Latin term which refers to [[chromatic]] line, often a [[bassline]], whether descending or ascending.

A line cliché is any chromatic line that moves against a stationary chord.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Line Clichés |url=https://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord-progressions/line-cliches/ |access-date=2022-08-25 |website=The Jazz Piano Site |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="hubguitar">{{Cite web |title=The 'Major' Line Cliché |website=Hub Guitar |url=https://hubguitar.com/fretboard/major-line-cliche |access-date=2022-08-25}}</ref> There are many different types of line clichés—most often in the root, fifth or seventh—but there are two named line clichés. The major line cliché moves from the fifth of the chord to the sixth, then back to the fifth.<ref name="hubguitar"/> Assuming the starting chord is the tonic, the simplest form of the major line cliché forms a I–I+–vi–I+ progression. The minor line cliché moves down from the root to the major seventh, to the minor seventh, and can continue until the fifth.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Minor Line Cliché |website=Hub Guitar |url=https://hubguitar.com/fretboard/minor-line-cliche |access-date=2022-08-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Minor Line Cliché |url=https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/the-minor-line-cliche-tutorial/ |access-date=2022-08-25 |website=PianoGroove.com |date=26 September 2018 |language=en-US}}</ref>

From the late 16th century onward, chromaticism has come to symbolize intense emotional expression in music. Pierre [[Boulez]] (1986, p.&nbsp;254) speaks of a long established "dualism" in Western European harmonic language: "the diatonic on the one hand and the chromatic on the other as in the time of [[Monteverdi]] and [[Carlo Gesualdo|Gesualdo]] whose madrigals provide many examples and employ virtually the same symbolism. The chromatic symbolizing darkness doubt and grief and the diatonic light, affirmation and joy—this imagery has hardly changed for three centuries."<ref>Boulez, P. (1986) ''Orientations'', London. Faber.{{Page needed|date=September 2016}}</ref> When an interviewer asked [[Igor Stravinsky]] (1959, p.&nbsp;243) if he really believed in an innate connection between "pathos" and chromaticism, the composer replied: "Of course not; the association is entirely due to convention."<ref>Stravinsky, I. and Craft, R. (1959) ''Memories and Commentaries''. London, Faber and Faber, p.&nbsp;243.</ref> Nevertheless, the convention is a powerful one and the emotional associations evoked by chromaticism have endured and indeed strengthened over the years. To quote Cooke (1959, p.&nbsp;54) "Ever since about 1850—since doubts have been cast, in intellectual circles, on the possibility, or even the desirability, of basing one's life on the concept of personal happiness—chromaticism has brought more and more painful tensions into our art-music, and finally eroded the major system and with it the whole system of tonality."<ref>Cooke, D. ''The Language of Music'', London and New York: Oxford University Press, p.&nbsp;54.</ref>

Examples of descending chromatic melodic lines that would seem to convey highly charged feeling can be found in:

{{ordered list
| The death-wish of a spurned lover expressed in the madrigal {{lang|it|italic=no|"Moro lasso al mio duolo"}}, by [[Carlo Gesualdo]] (1566–1613):
{{Image frame|content=<score sound="1">
\new PianoStaff <<
  {
    \accidentalStyle piano
    \set Score.midiInstrument = "choir aahs"
  }
  \new Staff \fixed c' {
    \omit Score.MetronomeMark \tempo 4 = 110
    <cis eis>1 | <a, e> | <b, dis> | << { d~ | 2 d' | gis a4 } \\ { b,2 c | d1~ | 2 c | } >>
  }
  \new Lyrics \lyricmode { Mo1 -- ro -- las -- so 2 al __ _ mio duo -- lo }
  \new Staff {
    \clef bass
    <cis gis>1 | <c e> | <b, fis> | << { g2 a | b1~ | 2 a | } \\ { b,1 | g | e2 a, | } >>
  }
>>
</score>|align=center|caption={{lang|it|italic=no|Gesualdo moro lasso}} or {{YouTube|id=6dVPu71D8VI|title=Listen}}}}

| The [[ground bass]] that underpins [[Dido's Lament|Dido's grief-laden Lament]] from [[Purcell]]'s opera ''Dido and Aeneas'' (1689):
{{Image frame|content=<score sound="1">
<<
  \new Staff \fixed c' {
    \key g \minor
    \omit Score.MetronomeMark \tempo 2=60
    \time 3/2 \partial 2
    \set Staff.midiInstrument = "choir aahs"
    r2 | R1.*4 | g2 a bes | \break
    bes a b | c'4.( bes8 a4. g8 fis4.) g8 | fis1 d'4. ees'8 | d'4.( c'8 bes2.) a4 | bes1 ees' 2 |
    4( a) 2 d' | 8( g) 4 a2 g4. fis8 | a1 r2 | R1.*2 |
  }
  \addlyrics {
    When I am laid __ _ am laid __ in earth, may my wrongs __ cre -- ate
    no trou -- ble, no trou -- ble in __ _ thy breast.
  }
  \new Staff {
    \clef bass
    \key g \minor
    \set Staff.midiInstrument = "cello"
    g2 | fis1 f2 | e1 ees2 | d1 bes,2 | c d1 | g, g2 |
    fis1 f2 | e1 ees2 | d1 bes,2 | c d d, | g,1 g2 |
    fis1 f2 | e1 ees2 | d1 bes,2 | c d d, | g,1 s2 |
  }
>>
</score>|align=center|caption=Dido's lament or {{YouTube|id=uGQq3HcOB0Y&t=0m56s|title=Listen}}}}

| The lover’s frustration expressed in ‘Morgengruss’ from [[Schubert]]’s song cycle ''[[Die schöne Müllerin]].''  The progression is similar to Gesualdo’s (above) with the bass line and voice moving in parallel thirds:<ref> Tymoczko, D. (2023, p.5), Tonality: an Owner’s Manual.  Oxford University Press.</ref>
{{Image frame|content=<score sound="1">
\layout { \context { \Score \accidentalStyle no-reset } }
<<
  \new Staff \fixed c' {
    \time 3/4 \partial 8
    \omit Score.MetronomeMark \tempo 4=90
    \autoBeamOff
    \set Score.currentBarNumber = 12
    \set Score.barNumberVisibility = #all-bar-numbers-visible
    \set Staff.midiInstrument = "choir aahs"
    d'8 | 4. 8 8 8 | cis'8. e'16 4. a16[( b]) | c'4. 8 8 8 | b8. d'16 4.\fermata s8 |
  }
  \addlyrics {
    Ver -- driesst dich denn mein Gruss so schwer? ver __
    stort dich denn mein Blick so sehr?
  }
  \new PianoStaff <<
    \new Staff \fixed c' {
      r8 | r d g d' g d | r e a cis' a e | \break
      r c f c' f c | r << { d[ g b]~ <g b> } \\ { d4.~ 8 } >> s8 |
    }
    \new Staff { \clef bass r8 | bes2. | a | aes | g | }
  >>
>>
</score>|align=center|caption=Schubert Morgengruss}}

| The seductive melody of the aria {{lang|fr|italic=no|"[[L'amour est un oiseau rebelle]]"}} from [[Bizet]]'s opera ''Carmen'' (1875):
[[File:Carmen Aria 'L'amour est un oiseau rebelle'.png|thumb|center|500px|Carmen aria {{lang|fr|italic=no|"L'amour est un oiseau rebelle"}}[[File:Carmen Aria 'L'amour est un oiseau rebelle'.mid]] or {{YouTube|id=lspRhX5Vhhg|title=Listen}} (This phrase is quoted by [[Dizzy Gillespie]] in the jazz example given [[#Chromatic note|above]].)]]
|The rich harmonization of a descending chromatic scale in the 'Sleep Motif' from [[Wagner]]'s opera {{lang|de|[[Die Walküre]]}}, act 3 (1870). {{harvp|Donington|1963|p=172}} speaks of this music's "slow chromatic drift and its modulations as elusive as the soft drift into sleep itself, when the sharp edges of consciousness begin to blur and fade".<ref>{{cite book|last=Donington|first=R.|year=1963|title=Wagner's Ring and its Symbols|location=London|publisher=Faber}}</ref>
[[File:Wagner Sleep music from Walkure.png|thumb|center|500px|Sleep music from act 3 of Wagner's opera {{lang|de|Die Walküre}}[[File:Wagner Sleep music from Walkure.mid]] or {{YouTube|id=nY51ofn0vck|title=Listen}}]]}}

==Quotes==
Some individual views on chromaticism include:

{{blockquote|Not only at the beginning of a [[musical composition|composition]] but also in the midst of it, each [[scale-step]] {{bracket|[[degree (music)|degree]]}} manifests an irresistible urge to attain the [[function (music)|value]] of the [[tonic (music)|tonic]] for itself as that of the strongest scale-step. If the composer yields to this urge of the scale-step within the diatonic system of which this scale-step forms part, I call this process ''[[tonicization|tonicalization]]'' and the phenomenon itself ''chromatic''.|[[Heinrich Schenker]] (1906)<ref>Schenker, Heinrich (1954). ''Harmony'', p. 256. Oswald Jonas, ed. and annot. Elisabeth Mann Borgese, trans. MIT Press. {{ISBN|0-262-69044-6}}.</ref>}}

{{blockquote|Chromaticism is almost by definition an [[alteration (music)|alteration]] of, an interpolation in or deviation from this basic diatonic organization.|[[Leonard B. Meyer]] (1956)<ref>Meyer, Leonard B. (1956). ''Emotion and Meaning in Music'', p. 217. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|9780226521374}}. Quoted in Brown (1986), p. 1.</ref>}}

{{Blockquote|Throughout the nineteenth century, composers felt free to alter any or all chord members of a given [[tertian]] structure [chord built from [[third (chord)|thirds]]] according to their compositional needs and dictates. Pronounced or continuous [[altered chord|chordal alteration]] [and '[[extended chord|extension]]'] resulted in ''chromaticism''. Chromaticism, together with frequent modulations and an abundance of non-harmonicism {{bracket|[[non-chord tone]]s}}, initially effected an expansion of the tertian system; the overuse of the procedures late in the century forewarned the decline and near collapse {{bracket|[[atonality]]}} of the system [tonality].|[[Paul Cooper (composer)|Paul Cooper]] (1975)<ref>Cooper, Paul (1975). ''Perspectives in Music Theory'', p. 208. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company. {{ISBN|0-396-06752-2}}.</ref>}}

{{Blockquote|''Chromaticism'' is the name given to the use of tones outside the major or minor scales. Chromatic tones began to appear in music long before the [[common-practice period]], and by the beginning of that period were an important part of its melodic and harmonic resources. Chromatic tones arise in music partly from inflection [alteration] of scale degrees in the major and minor modes, partly from secondary dominant harmony, from a special vocabulary of altered chords, and from certain nonharmonic tones...
Notes outside the scale do not necessarily affect the tonality...tonality is established by the progression of roots and the tonal functions of the chords, even though the details of the music may contain all the tones of the chromatic scale.|[[Walter Piston]] (1987)<ref>Piston, Walter (1987/1941). ''Harmony'', p. 66. 5th edition revised by Devoto, Mark. W. W. Norton, New York/London. {{ISBN|0-393-95480-3}}.</ref>}}

{{Blockquote|Sometimes...a melody based on a regular diatonic scale (major or minor) is laced with many accidentals, and although all 12 tones of the chromatic scale may appear, the tonal characteristics of the diatonic scale are maintained.<ref>Benward & Saker (2003), p. 38.</ref> ...
Chromaticism [is t]he<!--in the source Chromaticism is in bold, followed by a space and the "t" in "the" is capitalized ("The")--> introduction of some pitches of the chromatic scale into music that is basically diatonic in orientation, or music that is based on the chromatic scale instead of the diatonic scales.<ref name="B&S">Benward, Bruce & Saker, Marilyn (2003). "Glossary", ''Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I'', p. 359. Seventh Edition. {{ISBN|978-0-07-294262-0}}.</ref>|Benward & Saker (2003)}}

==Connotations==
{{main|Music semiology}}
Chromaticism is often associated with [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonance]].

In the 16th century the repeated melodic semitone became associated with weeping, see: [[chromatic fourth|passus duriusculus]], [[lament bass]], and [[pianto]].

[[Susan McClary]] (1991)<ref name="McClary">McClary, Suzan (1991). ''Feminine Endings. Music, Gender, and Sexuality'', Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, pp. 63-65</ref> argues that chromaticism in [[opera]]tic and [[sonata form]] [[narratology|narratives]] can be chosen to be understood through a Marxist narrative as the "Other", racial, sexual, class or otherwise, to diatonicism's "male" self, whether through modulation, as to the secondary key area, or other means. For instance, [[Catherine Clément]] calls the chromaticism in Wagner's ''[[Isolde]]'' "feminine stink".<ref>"Opera", 55–58, from McClary (1991) p. 185n16</ref> However, McClary also contradicts herself saying that the same techniques used in opera to represent madness in women were historically highly prized in [[avant-garde]] instrumental music, "In the nineteenth-century symphony, ''[[Salome (opera)|Salome]]''{{'}}s chromatic daring is what distinguishes truly serious composition of the vanguard from mere [[cliché]]-ridden hack work." (p.&nbsp;101)

==See also==
* [[20th-century music#Classical|20th-century music]] – Classical

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.jazzguitar.be/blog/chromaticism-how-to-add-chromatic-notes/ Chromaticism for Jazz Guitar]
* [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Passus.htm "Passus duriusculus"], ''Bach-Cantatas.com''.

{{atonality}}
{{Chromaticism}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Chromaticism| ]]