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A rhythmic motif is the term designating a characteristic rhythmic formula, an abstraction drawn from the rhythmic values of a melody. A motif thematically associated with a person, place, or idea is called a leitmotif or idée fixe. [7] Occasionally such a motif is a musical cryptogram of the name involved.
The use of characteristic, short, recurring motifs in orchestral music can be traced back to the early seventeenth century, such as L'Orfeo by Monteverdi.In French opera of the late eighteenth century (such as the works of Gluck, Grétry and Méhul), "reminiscence motif" can be identified, which may recur at a significant juncture in the plot to establish an association with earlier events.
Richard Wagner popularized the concept of a leitmotif: a motif or melody associated with a certain idea, person or place. While in both most popular music and classical music of the common practice period pitch and duration are of primary importance in melodies, the contemporary music of the 20th and 21st centuries pitch and duration have ...
Thematic transformation (also known as thematic metamorphosis or thematic development) is a musical technique in which a leitmotif, or theme, is developed by changing the theme by using permutation (transposition or modulation, inversion, and retrograde), augmentation, diminution, and fragmentation.
Music based on a single theme is called monothematic, while music based on several themes is called polythematic. Most fugues are monothematic and most pieces in sonata form are polythematic. [8] In the exposition of a fugue, the principal theme (usually called the subject) is announced successively in each voice – sometimes in a transposed form.
In music, an ostinato (Italian: [ostiˈnaːto]; derived from the Italian word for stubborn, compare English obstinate) is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch.
Opening credits and theme music to the television cartoon series Calvin and the Colonel. Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at some point during the program. [1]
A motif may be repeated in a pattern or design, often many times, or may just occur once in a work. [1] A motif may be an element in the iconography of a particular subject or type of subject that is seen in other works, or may form the main subject, as the Master of Animals motif in ancient art typically does.