pantonaladj.
/panˈtəʊnl/, U.S. /pænˈtoʊn(ə)l/ Music.
Of a musical composition: not in any one key but moving between numerous discernible keys without becoming atonal; including many tonalities. Also (occasionally): = atonal adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > [adjective] > style by tonal organization > specific
enharmonian1603
enharmonic1603
harmonical1603
enharmoniac1681
polytonic1892
quarter-tonal1912
atonal1922
polytonal1923
pandiatonic1937
tritonal1944
serial1947
dodecaphonic1950
pantonal1958
1958 R. R. Reti Tonality, Atonality, Pantonality iii. iii. 73 The first example tending towards the pantonal, the second towards the atonal concept.
1966 Listener 19 May 736/1 Schoenberg disliked the word ‘atonal’, and preferred the expression ‘pantonal’, inclusive of all tonalities.
1980 New Grove Dict. Music XIV. 163/1 A vast 20th-century repertory of ‘pantonal’ music has followed from the developments of these composers [sc. Bartok, Berg, Stravinsky, and Hindemith].
1998 J. W. Weaver Joyce's Music & Noise 101 The musical equivalent of the ‘physics of disorder’ is surely atonal or pantonal music.
Derivatives
panˈtonalism n. rare the quality of being pantonal; pantonality.
ΚΠ
1961 Webster's 3rd Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. (at cited word) Pantonalism, the quality or state of being pantonal.
1993 Opera News (Nexis) Aug. 36 They have far more life and rhythmic verve than the faceless pantonalism of the ‘serious’ portions of the score.
2003 Amer. Rec. Guide (Nexis) Mar. 177 11 minutes of almost Bergian pantonalism that grows from a halting, limpid piano solo of exquisite shapeliness and haunting expressive resonance.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1958