Polymodal Diatonicism in José Pablo Moncayo's "Tierra de Tempora"

Luis Sanchez, Texas Tech University

In this paper, I aim to expand the analytical research on José Moncayo's music by engaging in a piece that is regarded by some authors as Moncayo's masterpiece, Tierra de Temporal (Alcaraz 1975 & Torres-Chibras 2009). Moncayo implements pandiatonicism through the use of polymodality, a technique referred to by his mentor, Carlos Chávez, in a 1924 lecture at the national Autonomous University of México entitled "La Musica Azteca" (Stevenson 1976). Pandiatonicism is a characteristic found in pieces that are considered a part of Mexican Nationalism. This paper will delve into what other characteristics are necessary in order to identify a particular piece within the Mexican nationalist repertoire. Béla Bartók coined the term Polymodal Chromaticism which he defined as the simultaneous use of different modes with the same tonic (Suchoff 2004). Adapting Bartók's term, this paper will use the term Polymodal Diatonicism to describe music that makes simultaneous use of different modes within the same diatonic collection. This means that there are two or more tonal centers being sounded at the same time. The main purpose of this research will be to expand our understanding of Moncayo's music, and to explore the use of Polymodal Diatonicism.