Theme (music)

In music, a theme is the initial or primary melody. After the principal theme is announced, a second melody, sometimes called a countertheme or secondary theme, may play. In a three-part fugue, the principal theme is announced three times in three different voices -- soprano, alto, bass -- or some variation of that. In a four-part fugue, the principal motif is announced four times. A motif is a short melodic figure used repeatedly which may be used to construct a theme. A leitmotif is a motif or theme associated with a person, place, or idea. See also figure and cell.

Related Topics:
Music - Melody - Fugue - Soprano - Alto - Bass - Variation - Motif - Leitmotif - Figure - Cell

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thematic changes and processes are often structurally important, and theorists such as Rudolph Reti have created analysis from a purely thematic perspective. Fred Lerdahl describes thematic relations "associational" and thus outside his cognitive based generative theory's scope of analysis.

Related Topics:
Structurally - Rudolph Reti - Fred Lerdahl - Associational

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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, Anton Webern, and Alban Berg. Schoenberg (1975): "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."

Related Topics:
Arnold Schoenberg - Anton Webern - Alban Berg

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The 1958 Encyclopédie Fasquelle defines a theme as follows:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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

Musipedia has a large, searchable collection of themes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 
Theme (music): References ►