Richard Wagner popularized the concept of a leitmotif: a motif or melody associated with a certain idea, person or place. Often melodies are constructed from motifs or short melodic fragments, such as the opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Classical music often has several melodic layers, called polyphony, such as those in a fugue, a type of counterpoint. In western classical music, composers often introduce an initial melody, or theme, and then create variations.Rock music, melodic music, and other forms of popular music and folk music tend to pick one or two melodies ( verse and chorus) and stick with them much variety may occur in the phrasing and lyrics.See Klangfarbenmelodie and Musique concrète.ĭifferent musical styles use melody in different ways. Melodies in the 20th century were increasingly reliant "upon the qualitative dimensions" with those dimensions "in pre-twentieth century music were almost exclusively reserved for pitch and rhythm" such as being an "element of linear ordering" rather than a highlight to "the more predominant pitch and rhythmic aspects." However, quality is not an essential element of melody, as the same melody is recognizable when played with a wide variety of timbres, textures, and loudness. Prior to the 20th century, music was often characterized by "fixed and easily discernible frequency patterns", while later on composers have "utilized a greater variety of pitch resources than has been the custom in any other historical period of Western music." While materials from the diatonic scale are still used, the twelve-tone scale became "widely employed." DeLone states, "The essential elements of any melody are duration, pitch, and quality ( timbre), texture, and loudness. The melodies existent in most European music written before the 20th century, and popular music throughout the 20th century, featured recurring "events, often periodic, at all structural levels" and "recurrence of durations and patterns of durations". This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
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