Cell (music)

The 1957 Encyclopédie Larousse^[1] defines a cell in music as a "small rhythmic and melodic design that can be isolated, or can make up one part of a thematic context." The cell may be distinguished from the figure or motif: the 1958 Encyclopédie Fasquelle^[1] defines a cell as "the smallest indivisible unit" but distinguishes the cell from the motif, which may be divisible into more than one cell. A cell can be developed, independent of its context, as a melodic fragment, it can be used as a developmental motif. It can be the source for the whole structure of the work; in that case it is called a generative cell."

References

1. ^ ^{a b} quoted in Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1990). Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music (Musicologie générale et sémiologue, 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate (1990). ISBN 0-691-02714-5.