Polymodal chromaticism

[2] The technique became a means in Bartók's composition to avoid, expand, or develop major-minor tonality[3] (i.e. common practice harmony).

During the late 19th century the chromatic altering of a chord or melody was a change in strict relation to its functional non-altered version.

Bartók started to superimpose all possible diatonic modes on each other in order to extend and compress melodies in ways that suited him, unrestricted by Baroque-Romantic tonality as well as strict serial methods such as the twelve-tone technique.

In 1941, Bartók's ethnomusicological studies brought him into contact with the music of Dalmatia and he realised that the Dalmatian folk-music used techniques that resembled polymodal chromaticism.

[7] Lendvai identifies the technique in the late works of Modest Mussorgsky, Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, and Giuseppe Verdi.