leitmotif, a recurring musical theme appearing usually in operas but also in symphonic poems. It is used to reinforce the dramatic action, to provide psychological insight into the characters, and to recall or suggest to the listener extramusical ideas relevant to the dramatic event. In a purely musical sense the repetition or transformation of the theme also gives cohesion to large-scale works.
The term was first used by writers analyzing the music dramas of Richard Wagner, with whom the leitmotif technique is particularly associated. They applied it to the “representative themes” that characterize his works. The close thematic musical structure of his dramas, from Der Ring des Nibelungen onward, including Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger, demands skillful contrivance and keen intelligence in order to make the themes work satisfyingly in a symphonic way and at the same time enrich the dramatic events.
The leitmotif has two distinct dramatic functions, which may operate separately or together: one is allusion (to dramatic events), the other transformation, or continual modification of the theme. Both were used long before Wagner. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s four-measure phrase “Così fan tutte” (“Thus do they all”), in his opera of the same name, is allusive, but it appears as a recurrent motto rather than as a true leitmotif. Another early example of such allusive use is in Carl Maria von Weber’s opera Der Freischütz (The Freeshooter, or, more colloquially, The Magic Marksman), when Max hesitates to descend into the wolves’ glen and the orchestra echoes the mocking chorus that had teased him in the first act.
Weber also used the leitmotif in a purely instrumental fashion, as in his opera Euryanthe, where at least 13 motifs are transformed or developed in the orchestra. Also, in Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, the idée fixe (“fixed idea,” or leitmotif) appears in different forms, first as a poet’s thought of his beloved as an ideal and last in a nightmarish vision of her taking part in the witches’ sabbath. But Berlioz’s idée fixe was not yet an organic part of the symphonic fabric.
In the works of Wagner, allusion and transformation are used in rich abundance. Purely allusive is the three-note death theme in Tristan und Isolde. In contrast, the horn call in the second act of Siegfried is changed in The Twilight of the Gods from 6/8 to 4/4 time, becoming the theme for the matured and heroic Siegfried. Further modified in rhythm and texture, it forms the basis for the great orchestral threnody after his death. Similarly, in The Rhinegold, the Rhine maidens’ joyful song about their treasure becomes transformed when the theme represents the evil power of the gold in the hands of the dwarf Alberich.
Richard Strauss often used musical allusion with great subtlety, as in his opera Der Rosenkavalier. His thematic transformations, in contrast, are most often musical developments, rather than dramatic references. He used leitmotif most dramatically in his symphonic poems, where there is no stage action to carry the plot. Other followers of Wagner have done little to extend his methods, partly because he left them little to do.
Wagner’s original contribution to the use of the leitmotif is that of allusion. Transformation was not his invention, for it was already well advanced in the works of Berlioz and the symphonic poems of Franz Liszt. Claude Debussy used the principle in its most purely musical form—e.g., in his opera Pelléas et Mélisande.
Georges Bizet and Giacomo Puccini employed representative themes effectively as reminiscences, as did Giuseppe Verdi, who frequently recalled a past happiness during a final tragic situation by means of a melody associated with the earlier happiness. Charles Gounod used it most effectively in Faust when Marguerite in prison recalls her meeting with Faust.