Through-Composed

The meaning of Through-Composed is quite simple.

It refers to the structure of a song, or piece of music, that is non-repetitive, and non-sectional.

That is to say that it is comprised of new material the whole way through the piece. So from start to finish, you won't hear anything happen more than once.

For the sake of comparison, look at the sectional breakdowns of the following musical forms:

You can see that the material is repeated, or at least revisited by the composer, at some point during the composition.

Through-composed music doesn't do that. It never repeats old stuff - so the effect is a continually changing piece of music.

Now compare that with the visual representation of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen - which is Through-Composed.

Listen along and watch the different sections go past.

This playlist contains a bunch of Through-Composed Music. Try to listen specifically to the melodic phrases - notice how they aren't revisited later in the piece, because the composer has made a conscious decision NOT to repeat old material. He or she has COMPOSED new material THROUGHOUT. Hence the name "Through-Composed".


<Awaiting a playlist, soz, busy the now. I'll get round to it>


Through-Composed music is not specific to 20th Century and beyond -  for instance, it is used as an expressive composition tool in some Lieder (although some were strophic - which is why I don't go into detail about structure in the Lied/Song Cycle post).