In music,
eclecticism is the conscious use of styles alien to the
composer's own nature, or from a bygone era. The term is also used pejoratively to describe music whose composer, thought to be lacking originality, appears to have freely drawn on other models . This word can also be used to describe the music of composers who combine multiple styles, such as using a whole-tone variant of a pentatonic folksong over chromatic counterpoint, or a tertian arpeggiating melody over quartal or secundal harmonies. Eclecticism can also be through quotations, whether of a style (e.g.,
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9], direct quotations of folksongs/variations of them (e.g., Mahler: Symphony No. 1;
II]and
III] or direct quotations of other composers (e.g., Berio:
Sinfonia; III] .