{"id":25886,"date":"2023-04-05T12:18:08","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T10:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=182667"},"modified":"2023-04-05T14:35:44","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T12:35:44","slug":"what-is-a-motif-in-music","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/what-is-a-motif-in-music\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a motif in music?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We explain the meaning of the term motif. <\/p>

By BBC Music Magazine\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 05 April 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

What is a motif?<\/h2>\n
Within a piece of music, a motif is the term used to describe a short section with a distinct identity (a complete musical \u2018idea\u2019 or \u2018thought\u2019) that is found throughout, and is characteristic of, the whole composition \u2013 the piece\u2019s \u2018calling card\u2019.<\/p>\n
What is a leitmotif?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Motifs can be harmonic, melodic or rhythmic (or they may contain a combination of these elements) and are considered to be the smallest of the \u2018building blocks\u2019 \u2013 the recognisable, reoccurring themes and phrases \u2013 that make up a composition.<\/p>\n

\n
More musical terms explained<\/h4>\n
\n
Musical keys: what they are, the different keys and how they are used in classical music<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Obbligato meaning: what the word obbligato means when written on a score<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
What is a chromatic scale?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Modes in music: what they are and how they are used<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
Examples of a motif in music<\/strong><\/h3>\nA great example of a motif can be found in the first movement of Beethoven\u2019s 5^{th<\/sup> Symphony<\/a><\/strong>, which is instantly recognisable by its famous opening motif. Formed by the first four notes of the piece, this memorable motif is repeated throughout the first movement and is at the core of the composition.<\/p>\n\n<p>Other examples include the first bar of<strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/mendelssohns-hebrides-overture-fingals-cave\/"\"> Fingal\u2019s Cave by Mendelssohn<\/a><\/strong>; the opening five notes in <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/mozart\/"\">Mozart<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Turkish March, and the first three notes of <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/johannes-brahms\/"\">Brahms<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Lullaby. In each case, listening to just these short sections alone means anyone familiar with the pieces will be able to recognise them instantly, due to the distinct identity of these motifs.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> We explain the meaning of the term motif. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25887,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/what-is-a-motif-in-music.jpg",1890,1267,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/what-is-a-motif-in-music-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/what-is-a-motif-in-music-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/what-is-a-motif-in-music-768x515.jpg",768,515,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/what-is-a-motif-in-music-1024x686.jpg",800,536,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/what-is-a-motif-in-music-1536x1030.jpg",1536,1030,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/what-is-a-motif-in-music.jpg",1890,1267,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"We explain the meaning of the term motif.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25886"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}}