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In music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody
Melody

In music, a melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity....
, upon which part or all of a composition is based. It may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found (Drabkin 2001). In contrast to an "idea" or "motif
Motif (music)

In music, a motif or motive is a perceivable or salience recurring fragment or succession of notes that may be used to construct the entirety or parts of complete melody and theme s....
", a theme is usually a complete phrase or period (Dunsby 2002). The Encyclopédie Fasquelle (Michel 1958–61) defines a theme as follows:



r the principal theme is announced, a second melody
Melody

In music, a melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity....
, sometimes called a countertheme or secondary theme, may occur.

A leitmotif
Leitmotif

A leitmotif is a recurring musical Theme , associated with a particular person, place, or idea. The word has also been used by extension to mean any sort of recurring theme, whether in music, literature, or the life of a fictional character or a real person....
 is a motif or theme associated with a person, place, or idea.






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Encyclopedia


In music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody
Melody

In music, a melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity....
, upon which part or all of a composition is based. It may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found (Drabkin 2001). In contrast to an "idea" or "motif
Motif (music)

In music, a motif or motive is a perceivable or salience recurring fragment or succession of notes that may be used to construct the entirety or parts of complete melody and theme s....
", a theme is usually a complete phrase or period (Dunsby 2002). The Encyclopédie Fasquelle (Michel 1958–61) defines a theme as follows:

  • "Any element, motif, or small musical piece that has given rise to some variation becomes thereby a theme."


Explanation

After the principal theme is announced, a second melody
Melody

In music, a melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity....
, sometimes called a countertheme or secondary theme, may occur.

A leitmotif
Leitmotif

A leitmotif is a recurring musical Theme , associated with a particular person, place, or idea. The word has also been used by extension to mean any sort of recurring theme, whether in music, literature, or the life of a fictional character or a real person....
 is a motif or theme associated with a person, place, or idea. See also figure
Figure (music)

In music, a figure is a recurring fragment or succession of notes that may be used to construct the accompaniment. A figure is distinguished from a motif in that a figure is background while a motif is foreground: "A figure resembles a moulding in architecture: it is 'open at both ends', so as to be endlessly repetition ....
 and cell
Cell (music)

In music a cell is similar to a figure or motif .The 1957 Encyclop?die Larousse defines a cell as:The 1958 Encyclop?die Fasquelle defines a cell as:...
.

Thematic changes and processes are often structurally
Musical form

The term musical form refers to two related concepts:*the type of composition *the structure of a particular musical piece .There is some overlap between musical form and musical genre....
 important, and theorists such as Rudolph Reti
Rudolph Réti

Rudolph R?ti was a musical analyst, composer and pianist. He was the older brother of the great chess master Richard R?ti.R?ti was born in U?ice in the Kingdom of Serbia and studied music theory, musicology and piano in Vienna....
 have created analysis from a purely thematic perspective . Fred Lerdahl
Fred Lerdahl

Fred Lerdahl is the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and Music theory best known for his work on pitch space and cognition constraints on compositional systems or "musical grammar[s]." As a composer, Lerdahl is widely respected for his chamber works, including Time After Time, a finali...
 describes thematic relations "associational" and thus outside his cognitive-based generative theory's scope of analysis.

Music based on one theme is monothematic while music based on several themes is polythematic. For example, most fugue
Fugue

In music, a fugue is a type of counterpoint composition or technique of composition for a fixed number of melody, normally referred to as "voices"....
s are monothematic and most pieces in sonata form
Sonata form

Sonata form is a musical form that has been used widely since the early Classical music era. While it is typically used in the first Movement of multimovement pieces, it is sometimes employed in subsequent movements as well....
 are polythematic (Randel 2002, 429). When one of the sections in the exposition of a sonata form
Sonata form

Sonata form is a musical form that has been used widely since the early Classical music era. While it is typically used in the first Movement of multimovement pieces, it is sometimes employed in subsequent movements as well....
 movement consists of several themes or other material, defined by function and (usually) their tonality, rather than by melodic characteristics alone, the term theme group (or subject group) is sometimes used (Rushton 2001).

Fugue

In a three-part fugue, the principal theme (usually called the "subject") is announced three times in three different voices—soprano
Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four part chorale style harmony the soprano takes the highest part which usually encompasses the melody....
, alto, bass
Bass (musical term)

Bass , when used as an adjective, is used to describe Pitch s of low frequency or range . Played in an musical ensemble/orchestra, such notes are frequently used to provide a counterpoint or counter-melody, in a harmony context either to outline or juxtapose the progression of the chord s, or with Percussion instrument to underline the rhyth...
—or some variation
Variation

Variation means a change within a population, or between sub-populations.* Biodiversity* Genetic diversity, differences within a speciesPhysics:...
 of this.

In a four-part fugue, the principal theme is announced four times. A motif
Motif (music)

In music, a motif or motive is a perceivable or salience recurring fragment or succession of notes that may be used to construct the entirety or parts of complete melody and theme s....
 is a short melodic figure used repeatedly which may be used to construct a theme.

Music without themes

Music without themes, or without recognizable, repeating, and developing themes, is called athematic. Examples include the pre-twelve tone or early atonal works of Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian and later American composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School....
, Anton Webern
Anton Webern

Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and Conducting. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known proponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of pitch, rhythm and dynamics were formative...
, and Alban Berg
Alban Berg

Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Gustav Mahler Romantic music with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique....
. Schoenberg once said that, "intoxicated by the enthusiasm of having freed music from the shackles of tonality, I had thought to find further liberty of expression. In fact...I believed that now music could renounce motivic features and remain coherent and comprehensible nevertheless" (Schoenberg 1975,).

See also

  • Ritornello
    Ritornello

    In Baroque music, ritornello was the word for a recurring passage for orchestra in the first or final movement of a solo concerto or aria . In ritornello form, the Musical terminology#T opens with a Theme called the ritornello ....
  • Rondo
    Rondo

    Rondo, and its French language equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also in reference to a character-type that is distinct from the form....
  • Theme music
    Theme music

    The phrase theme music usually refers to that of a radio programming, television program, or movie. It is a Musical composition that is often written specifically for that show, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits....