Throughcomposition

Throughcomposition, or through-composed form, is a musical technique in which each textual segment is set to new music, with little or no repetition of earlier material. The term, from German durchkomponiert, is used mainly to describe vocal works in which the music continuously evolves to reflect the developing narrative and imagery of the text.

In through-composed settings, melodies, harmonies, and rhythms are crafted to fit each line or stanza, avoiding repeating musical sections. This contrasts with strophic form, where the same music is used for multiple stanzas, and with modified strophic, where some repetition is retained but altered.

Classic examples include Franz Schubert's Erlkönig, a quintessential through-composed Lied. Other Romantic composers such as Robert Schumann and Hugo Wolf employed this approach in many songs to convey changing emotional states and scenes. In later periods, the form also appeared in art songs and some song cycles, as composers sought to mirror text more precisely.

In practice, through-composition offers narrative flexibility and musical variety, but can demand more from performers and listeners due to the lack of recurring musical anchors. It remains an important concept in discussions of Lied and vocal music history.