Fragmentation (music)

In music composition, fragmentation is the use of fragments or the "division of a musical idea (gesture, motive, theme, etc.) into segments". It is used in tonal and atonal music, and is a common method of localized development and closure.

Fragmentation is related to Arnold Schoenberg's concept of liquidation,^[1] a common compositional technique that describes the reduction of a large-scale musical idea to its essential form (such as a contour line, a specific harmonic motion, or the like).^[2] Liquidation shapes much thematically-driven music, such as that by Béla Bartók,^[3] Stravinsky, and Schoenberg himself. It is important to understand that, although they are related, fragmentation and liquidation are separate processes and concepts.

Further reading

• Caplin, William. Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions, p. 10-11.