Imitation (music)
With imitation ( latin Imitatio , imitation '), the imitation of a tone sequence, in which the occurrence of a music thread ( soggetto ) or subject in a ( polyphonic ) music piece successively in different voices designated. The topic can be true to the note ("strict" as in the canon ) or slightly changed ("free"), whereby the beginning of the topic is usually kept exactly.
This was a popular compositional principle, especially in the Baroque and Renaissance epochs . The topic first appears in one voice and then usually passes through all other voices. The imitation principle can still be found well into the Classical era, but is already clearly declining there.
Genres for which imitation is decisive are especially canon , fugue and ricercar . However, imitations are a generally usable stylistic device and therefore also appear in many other genres (e.g. madrigal or motet ).
A particularly artistic use of imitation can be found in chorale arrangements in the style of Johann Pachelbel (Pachelbel form). Here the beginning of each chorale line is quoted in short note values in all parts (so-called "pre-imitation"), before the entire chorale line appears in long note values in the cantus firmus part .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Definition on tonalemusik.de , accessed on November 14, 2018