THE WORD “MOTIVE” has acquired multiple meanings over the years, and thus it seems prudent to attempt a definition of the term and, by doing so, to clarify its meanings. In its broadest meaning, a motive is a musical idea that is repeated in the course of a composition. Where theorists in the past have differed is in the nature of the idea and, for that matter, in the nature of its repetitions. As a starting point, we might distinguish between two basic types of motive, the rhythmic motive and the pitch motive. Though a rhythmic idea can be subjected to augmentation and/or diminution in the course of a work, repetitions are most often at the same level. Undoubtedly the most famous example of this phenomenon in the classical literature is the rhythmic motive that pervades Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. While this idea is associated with specific pitches at specific points in the composition, it is the rhythm, not the pitch, that defines it as a motivic idea. We have, in fact, already encountered a rhythmic motive in our brief discussion of the Toccata from Partita VI (BWV 830) in chapter 1. The dotted rhythmic figure that opens the partita is repeated within the outer sections of the Toccata itself and reappears in different guises in the Allemanda and Sarabande.

A pitch motive is defined by its specific pitch or scale-degree succession and its contour, but not normally by its rhythmic articulation. To be sure, any given statement will be articulated rhythmically, but that articulation will not necessarily be repeated with successive statements of the motive. What is repeated is the specific succession of pitches, in which case the relationship is called pitch specific, or the specific succession of scale degrees, in which case the relationship is scale-degree specific. Let us consider a simple example, the neighbor-note motive g–a–g, scale degrees 5–6–5 in C minor. When this idea is repeated at the same pitch level, it is easily recognized as a parallel statement. But the parallel is also recognized when the motive appears transposed to the dominant: d–e–d. What is preserved is the scale-degree succession. There are also cases where the pitch content of two ideas is so similar that it is the contour that differentiates them.