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Tag: theme

In music, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based. In forms such as the fugue this may be known as the subject. A theme 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, a theme is usually a complete phrase or period (Dunsby 2002). The Encyclopédie Fasquelle defines a theme as “Any element, motif, or small musical piece that has given rise to some variation becomes thereby a theme” (Michel 1958–61). Thematic changes and processes are often structurally important, and theorists such as Rudolph Reti have created analysis from a purely thematic perspective (Reti 1951; Reti 1967). Fred Lerdahl describes thematic relations as “associational” and thus outside his cognitive-based generative theory’s scope of analysis (Lerdahl 2001, 5). Music based on one theme is called monothematic, while music based on several themes is…