What is a Motif in Music? - Music Theory

Music Matters

19 Jul 201808:17

EducationalLearning

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TLDRThe speaker defines a musical motif as a short musical idea that is often repeated and developed in various ways. He analyzes the opening of Handel's 'Hallelujah Chorus' to demonstrate how it is constructed using three distinct motifs that are repeated and varied. He then shows how Bach builds an entire fugue out of the development of a single motif. The speaker explains how composers use motifs as building blocks, repeating, sequencing, and varying them to spin out musical designs. He hopes this analysis provides a helpful analytical and compositional tool for understanding and working with motifs across musical styles.

Takeaways

😀 A motif is a short musical idea that is often repeated and developed in different ways.
🎹 Motifs are used as compositional devices, especially in Baroque music which is often built from short motifs.
🎵 Handel's 'Hallelujah' chorus demonstrates the use of distinct motifs (A, B and C) that are repeated and transposed.
🎼 Bach's fugues show motivic development through altering rhythm or pitch while keeping the core motif intact.
🎚 Motifs can be expanded, contracted, sequenced and developed as a compositional technique.
💡 Identifying and analyzing the use of motifs helps understand the structure and design of a musical work.
🎹 Using motifs can aid composers in developing musical ideas in their own work.
🔁 Motifs usually reappear in some form - same rhythm, different pitch or vice versa.
🎵 Twentieth century composers applied Baroque motifs in new styles and contexts.
🤔 Analysing motifs helps appreciate compositional devices used by the great masters.

Q & A

What is a motif in music?
-A motif is a short musical idea, usually a melodic or rhythmic pattern that is repeated, developed, expanded, contracted, etc. It's a compositional device used in many styles of music.
How does Handel use motifs in the Hallelujah chorus example?
-Handel builds the opening of the Hallelujah chorus out of 3 motif ideas - Motif A is the opening "Hallelujah" rhythm, Motif B is the second "Hallelujah" idea, and Motif C is a closing idea. He repeats, sequences, and transforms these motifs.
What are some ways composers can develop a motif?
-Some ways to develop a motif are: repeat it exactly, alter the rhythm, alter the pitch, expand or extend it, sequence it at different pitches, combine it with other motifs, etc.
How does J.S. Bach develop the motif in the fugue example?
-Bach takes the opening fugue motif and develops it by keeping the rhythm consistent but altering the pitches, extending the melody, and sequencing the motif at different pitch levels.
What is the relationship between motifs in the Hallelujah chorus?
-Motifs A and B share a similar rhythmic pattern with pairs of quavers. Motif B features more syncopation. Motif C has a distinct syncopated rhythm not found in A or B.
How can motifs be used as an analytical tool?
-Analyzing the motifs in a piece of music helps understand its structure and development. You can see how ideas are repeated, varied, expanded upon using motifs as building blocks.
What are some distinct features of the different motifs in Hallelujah chorus?
-The dotted crotchet-quaver rhythm is distinctive to Motif A. Motif C features syncopation not found in other motifs. The motifs relate but have unique qualities.
Why might Handel build the Hallelujah chorus from motifs?
-Using motifs allows musical coherence while still having variety. The motifs provide unity to the chorus but can be developed in different ways to keep it interesting.
What are some ways motifs can be used compositionally?
-Motifs provide composers with musical ideas that can be repeated, sequenced, expanded/contracted, combined etc. Composers can develop motifs to build structure and coherence.
How do the examples show Baroque composers using motifs differently?
-Handel stacks motifs vertically in block chords in a homophonic texture. Bach uses a motif contrapuntally, weaving variations of it between voices in an imitative, polyphonic texture.

Outlines

00:00

🎵 Defining and Illustrating 'Motif' in Music

This paragraph defines what a musical motif is - a short musical idea that is repeated and developed in various ways. It gives examples of motifs from Handel's 'Hallelujah' chorus, showing how Handel builds the opening using 3 motif ideas (A, B and C) that are repeated and varied. It analyses how the motifs relate rhythmically.

05:03

🎹 Using Motifs in Baroque Counterpoint and Composition

This paragraph looks at how motifs are used contrapuntally in Baroque music, using Bach's Fugue No.2 as an example. It shows how Bach takes a short musical idea (the fugue subject) and repeats it with changes to the pitch or rhythm, illustrating how composers can develop motifs by alteration, extension and sequence.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡motif

A motif is defined in the video as a short musical idea that is usually repeated, developed, expanded, or contracted. It is described as a compositional device commonly used in Baroque music, where pieces are built out of short motifs. The video analyzes the motifs used in the opening of Handel's 'Hallelujah Chorus' and in a Bach fugue to demonstrate how motifs can be repeated, altered, expanded, sequenced, etc. to build an entire musical work.

💡Baroque music

Baroque music refers to compositions from the Baroque period of classical Western music, which spanned approximately 1600-1750. The video states that Baroque music often makes extensive use of motifs, with entire pieces constructed by developing short motif ideas. This is illustrated through an analysis of motivic development in works by prominent Baroque composers Bach and Handel.

💡hallelujah chorus

The Hallelujah chorus is the famous chorus from Handel's oratorio Messiah, which begins with the word 'Hallelujah'. The video analyzes the rhythmic motif ideas that Handel uses to construct the opening chords of this chorus, labeling them as motifs A, B, and C. It shows how Handel repeats and sequences these motifs through transposition to build the musical structure.

💡fugue

A fugue is a complex contrapuntal composition built on a short melodic theme called a subject, which is introduced by one voice and then imitated by other voices in different pitches. The video analyzes Bach's Fugue No. 2 in C minor, examining how he develops the first fugue subject motivicallly by preserving its rhythm but altering its pitch content over successive entries.

💡rhythm

The video focuses substantially on the rhythmic identity of musical motifs, using rhythm as a means to label and track motivic ideas even when their pitch content changes. For example, Handel's Hallelujah chorus motifs A, B and C are differentiated and charted primarily through their rhythms rather than pitches.

💡sequence

Sequencing refers to reusing a musical idea at a different pitch level, like transposing it up or down. The video shows how Bach sequences the fugue subject by preserving its rhythm and transposing some of its pitches, as a technique for motivic development.

💡transposition

Transposition means shifting a melody into a new key, while preserving the same pattern of intervals between its notes. In analyzing the Hallelujah chorus, the video shows how Handel repeats motifs A, B and C through transposition to new keys as a means of developing the musical structure.

💡syncopation

Syncopation refers to accents placed on normally weak beats or off-beats in music, creating a disrupted sense of rhythm and pulse. The video identifies a syncopated rhythm in Motif C of the Hallelujah chorus as a distinctive rhythmic feature not found in Motifs A and B.

💡diminution

Diminution is a compositional technique where a musical idea is presented with shorter note values, often doubled in tempo. The video describes the two sixteenth notes in Motif A of the Hallelujah chorus as a diminution of the two eighth notes found in the other motifs.

💡compound

A musical idea can be broken down into component parts or 'ingredients', like the two parts that make up the fugue subject. But it can also be viewed holistically as a unified compound motif built from those ingredients, illustrating the complexity that can exist within a single motif.

Highlights

A motif is a short musical idea that is usually repeated, developed, expanded, contracted - it's a compositional device.

Many Baroque pieces are built out of little motifs. Twentieth century composers have also been inspired by Baroque motifs.

The Hallelujah chorus opens with a repeating chordal motif A, then a second repeating motif B, and a closing motif C.

Motifs A and B are then repeated in a transposed form, showing development through transposition.

The rhythmic relationship between the motifs creates coherence, while the distinctive rhythms maintain contrast.

In Baroque counterpoint, a motif can be altered through changes in pitch while keeping the rhythm constant.

Bach alters the pitch of the fugue motif in strategic places to develop the idea while keeping the rhythm consistent.

Motifs can be expanded or developed through sequence, transposition, truncation, etc. to build the form.

Handel and Bach used motifs in different ways - Handel through repetition in homophony, Bach through alteration in counterpoint.

Motifs are useful analytical tools to understand the construction of musical pieces.

Motifs can also serve as compositional tools to generate musical ideas and develop form.

A motif establishes a musical cell that can be repeated, varied, expanded, sequenced - serving as a generator of musical form.

The treatment of the opening motif in Handel's Messiah illustrates motivic construction of a homophonic chorus.

Bach's fugue demonstrates motivic alteration through pitch change while retaining the subject's rhythmic identity.

Composers can manipulate motifs through repetition, truncation, augmentation, diminution, transposition and sequence to build pieces.

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Takeaways

Q & A