Talk:Motif (music)

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Classical music: Compositions

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Image[edit]

I think the image would look better displayed to the left, not in the center (which on this monitor is just to the right of center). Hyacinth 22:44, 30 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Motif and Figure[edit]

The notion that "a motif is foreground while a figure is background" can not be considered to be in any way standard. For example, the Harvard Dictionary defines a motif as "a short figure of characteristic design...", making no distinction at all between motif and figure. Morris uses the term "unit", giving "figure" as an alternative, for "the smallest possible component of a musical phrase", and gives the most famous of all motifs, the opening of Beethoven 5 as an example — hardly "background". In his analysis of the Appassionata, Tovey describes the first four bars as a "Theme (AB) of 2-bar figure (a) on chord of F minor followed by 2-bar figure (b) on and around dominant." The figure (a) is bald unison and couldn't possibly be background. These are just the first few examples that came to hand and are not likely the best. It is deeply discouraging to find article after article after article presenting the ivory tower speculations of this or that academic theorist as if they were the Laws of the Universe. Fenneck (talk) 06:16, 22 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Please, summarize the sources[edit]

The Wikipedia article shouldn't task the reader to run a gauntlet of numerous, different experts' opinions, directly quoted, on what a motif is [present version]. This article is to reconcile those different sources to distill a consensus, in theoretical and practical senses, translated into lay terms, and then perhaps succinctly reveal areas of disagreement. — Occurring (talk) 02:15, 2 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Idée fixe (music)[edit]

Idée fixe (music) currently redirects to this page. Wouldn't Leitmotif (or Leitmotif#Early instances in classical music) perhaps provide a better landing? 86.180.70.68 (talk) 19:53, 28 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]