ABSTRACT
All the techniques of parody can be traced back to parody's two basic semantic components of imitation and incongruity. The examination of the axis of imitation will deal with the different degrees of particularity and distance between the parody and the parodied object: replication, quotation, allusion and stylization. The description of the incongruity axis will specify techniques of variation, distortion and parodic collage. Parodic imitation was associated with genres and forms like travesty, pastiche, burlesque and caricature and with the techniques of quotation, allusion and stylization. The boundaries between a parodic borrowing from a specific work and replications of a motif which has cultural, gestural and projectional connotations become blurred. Dmitri Shostakovich transformed Gustav Mahler's interpretations of musical topics, such as the waltz, the scherzo and the march, into allusion-topics in themselves. Shostakovich uses parodic replication mainly in his vocal music.
