View source for Motif (music)

{{Short description|Short recurring musical phrase}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[Leitmotif]]. For other uses, see [[Motif (disambiguation)]]}}
[[Image:FuenfteDeckblatt.png|thumb|upright=1.25|In [[Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Fifth Symphony]], a four-note figure becomes the most important motif of the work, extended melodically and harmonically to provide the main [[theme (music)|theme]] of the first [[movement (music)|movement]]. {{audio|Beet5mov1bars1to5.ogg|Play}}]]
[[Image:Sibelius - Finlandia, Op. 26 opening motive.png|thumb|Two note opening motif from [[Jean Sibelius]]'s ''[[Finlandia]]''.{{sfn|White|1976|pp=26–27}} {{audio|Sibelius - Finlandia, Op. 26 opening motive.mid|Play}}]]
[[Image:Machaut - Mass motive.png|thumb|left|Motif from [[Guillaume de Machaut|Machaut]]'s [[Messe de Nostre Dame|Mass]], notable for its length of seven notes.{{sfn|White|1976|pp=26–27}}{{audio|Machaut - Mass motive.mid|Play}}]]
[[Image:Ravel - String Quartet, mov. I motive.png|thumb|left|Motif from [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]]'s [[String Quartet (Ravel)|String Quartet]], first movement.{{sfn|White|1976|p=30}} {{audio|Ravel - String Quartet, mov. I motive.mid|Play}}]]

In [[music]], a '''motif''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=en-us-motif.ogg|m|oʊ|ˈ|t|i:|f}}) or '''motive''' is a short musical idea,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Drabkin |first=William |url=https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0017unse/page/227/mode/1up |title=The new Grove dictionary of music and musicians |publisher=Grove |others=Stanley Sadie, John Tyrrell |year=2001 |isbn=1-56159-239-0 |edition=2nd |volume=17 |location=New York |pages=227–228 |oclc=44391762}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Nattiez |first=Jean-Jacques |title=Music and discourse : toward a semiology of music |date=1990 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0-691-09136-6 |location=Princeton, N.J. |oclc=21524730}}</ref> a [[Salience (neuroscience)|salient]] recurring [[Figure (music)|figure]], musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a [[musical composition|composition]]. The motif is the smallest structural unit possessing [[theme (music)|thematic]] identity.{{sfn|White|1976|pp=26–27}}

== History ==
The {{lang|fr|[[Bibliothèque de la Pléiade|Encyclopédie de la Pléiade]]}} defines a motif as a "melodic, rhythmic, or harmonic [[cell (music)|cell]]", whereas the 1958  {{lang|fr|Encyclopédie Fasquelle}} maintains that it may contain one or more cells, though it remains the smallest analyzable element or phrase within a [[subject (music)|subject]].<ref>Both cited in Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1990).  ''Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music'' (''Musicologie générale et sémiologue'', 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate.  Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.  {{ISBN|0691091366}}/{{ISBN|0691027145}}.</ref> It is commonly regarded as the shortest subdivision of a [[Theme (music)|theme]] or [[Phrase (music)|phrase]] that still maintains its identity as a musical idea. "The smallest structural unit possessing thematic identity".{{sfn|White|1976|pp=26–27}} [[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove]] and [[Éditions Larousse|Larousse]]<ref>1957 ''Encyclopédie Larousse'' cited in Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1990).  ''Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music'' (''Musicologie générale et sémiologue'', 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate.  Princeton, NJ:  Princeton University Press.  {{ISBN|0691091366}}/{{ISBN|0691027145}}.</ref> also agree that the motif may have harmonic, melodic and/or rhythmic aspects, Grove adding that it "is most often thought of in melodic terms, and it is this aspect of the motif that is connoted by the term 'figure'."

A harmonic motif is a series of [[Chord (music)|chords]] defined in the abstract, that is, without reference to melody or rhythm. A melodic motif is a [[melodic formula]], established without reference to [[Interval (music)|intervals]]. A rhythmic motif is the term designating a characteristic rhythmic formula, an abstraction drawn from the rhythmic values of a melody.

A motif [[theme (literary)|thematically]] associated with a person, place, or idea is called a [[leitmotif]] or ''idée fixe''.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Gorlinski |first=Virginia |title=Idée fixe - music |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/idee-fixe |access-date=6 May 2023 |date=2012}}</ref> Occasionally such a motif is a [[musical cryptogram]] of the name involved. A [[#head-motif|head-motif]] (German: {{lang|de|Kopfmotiv}}) is a musical idea at the opening of a set of movements which serves to unite those movements.

[[Roger Scruton]], however, suggests that a motif is distinguished from a [[figure (music)|figure]] in that a motif is foreground while a figure is background: "A figure resembles a moulding in architecture: it is 'open at both ends', so as to be endlessly repeatable. In hearing a phrase as a figure, rather than a motif, we are at the same time placing it in the background, even if it is...strong and melodious".{{sfn|Scruton|1997}}

Any motif may be used to construct complete [[melody|melodies]], themes and [[Piece (music)|pieces]]. [[Musical development]] uses a distinct musical figure that is subsequently altered, repeated, or sequenced throughout a piece or [[Section (music)|section]] of a piece of music, guaranteeing its unity.

== Examples ==
[[File:Debussy String Quartet second movement opening.PNG|thumb|center|upright=2.75|A phrase originally presented as a motif may become a [[Figure (music)|figure]] which accompanies another [[melody]], as in the second movement of [[Claude Debussy]]'s [[String Quartet (Debussy)|String Quartet]] (1893).{{sfn|Scruton|1997}} {{audio|Debussy String Quartet second movement opening.mid|Play}} White would classify the accompaniment as motivic material since it was, "derived from an important motive stated earlier".{{sfn|White|1976|pp=31–34}}]]
Such motivic development has its roots in the keyboard [[sonata]]s of [[Domenico Scarlatti]] and the [[sonata form]] of [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s age. Arguably [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] achieved the highest elaboration of this technique; the famous "fate motif" —the pattern of three short notes followed by one long one—that opens his [[Beethoven's Fifth Symphony|Fifth Symphony]] and reappears throughout the work in surprising and refreshing permutations is a classic example.

Motivic saturation is the "immersion of a musical motif in a composition", i.e., keeping motifs and themes below the surface or playing with their identity, and has been used by composers including [[Miriam Gideon]], as in "Night is my Sister" (1952) and "Fantasy on a Javanese Motif" (1958), and [[Donald Erb]].  The use of motifs is discussed in [[Adolph Weiss]]' "The Lyceum of Schönberg".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hisama |first=Ellie M. |title=Gendering musical modernism: the music of Ruth Crawford, Marion Bauer, and Miriam Gideon |date=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University press |isbn=978-0-521-64030-5 |series=Cambridge studies in music theory and analysis |location=Cambridge New York|pages=146,152}}</ref>

== Definitions ==
[[Image:Bad guy riff.png|thumb|[[Mysterioso Pizzicato|"Curse" motif]] from film scores, associated with villains and ominous situations. {{audio|Mysterioso Pizzicato.mid|Play}}]]
[[Hugo Riemann]] defines a motif as "the concrete content of a rhythmically basic time-unit."<ref>[[Oswald Jonas|Jonas, Oswald]] (1982). ''Introduction to the Theory of Heinrich Schenker'' (1934: ''Das Wesen des musikalischen Kunstwerks: Eine Einführung in Die Lehre Heinrich Schenkers''), p.&nbsp;12. Trans. John Rothgeb. {{ISBN|0-582-28227-6}}.</ref>

[[Anton Webern]] defines a motif as, "the smallest independent particle in a musical idea", which are recognizable through their repetition.<ref>Webern (1963), pp.&nbsp;25–26. Cited in {{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=Edward |title=Boulez, music and philosophy |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-86242-4 |series=Music in the twentieth century |location=Cambridge|page=157}}</ref>

[[Arnold Schoenberg]] defines a motif as, "a unit which contains one or more features of interval and rhythm [whose] presence is maintained in constant use throughout a piece".<ref>Neff (1999), p.&nbsp;59. Cited in Campbell (2010), p.&nbsp;157.</ref>

==Head-motif==
<!--[[Head-motif]] links directly here.-->
{{anchor|Head motif}}{{anchor|head-motif}}{{anchor|Head-motif}}
'''Head-motif''' (German: ''Kopfmotiv'') refers to an opening musical idea of a set of [[movement (music)|movements]] which serves to unite those movements. It may also be called a [[motto (disambiguation)|motto]], and is a frequent device in [[cyclic mass]]es.<ref>{{Cite Grove |last=Fallows |first=David |title=Head-motif}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Idée fixe (psychology)|''Idée fixe'' (psychology)]]
* [[Motif (art)]]
* [[Motif (literature)]]
* [[Riff]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}
===Works cited===
{{ref begin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Scruton |first=Roger |title=The aesthetics of music |date=1997 |publisher=Clarendon press |isbn=978-0-19-816638-2 |location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |last=White |first=John David |title=The analysis of music |date=1976 |publisher=Prentice-Hall |isbn=978-0-13-033233-2 |location=Englewood Cliffs, NJ}}
{{ref end}}

{{Melody}}
{{Motives (music)}}
{{musical form}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Motifs (music)| ]]
[[Category:Rhythm and meter]]
[[Category:Formal sections in music analysis]]
[[Category:Melody]]