# Pieces that grow from or consist of small motifs



## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

I'm always walking on eggshells with music vocabulary but hopefully you understand what I mean. I'm looking for more pieces like the first preludes of WTC and the cello suites, where the theme loops and is developed more by harmony than melodic variation, if I'm even using those terms correctly.

The theme doesn't necessarily have to be simple or dainty and I use the term "loops" loosely - for example Beethoven's 5th would count, as would anything that only adheres to this description for a short time before expanding.

I confess that I ask because my ears are simple and lazy and I've been addicted to the easy digestion of such pieces.

And I almost forgot that pesky asterisk!
*except for Bach


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I think I know what you are asking. Little repeated arpeggios and so forth, like the 1st prelude in C? You might like Philip Glass. He's not my cup of tea, but his Metamorphosis (? I think that's what some of his piano works are called) have some of this quality, but slowed down a lot.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

Not certain if I completely understand, but Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Piano Concerto mostly consists of the same theme; Wikipedia says it goes through "thematic metamorphosis ... changing its character and style as the piece progresses."

Another suggestion: Handel/Halvorsen - Passacaglia for Violin and Viola


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2015)

Yep. Glass, Steve Reich...Music for 18 Musicians...


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

> *Piece*s *that* grow from or *consist of small motifs*


My first reaction... Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen!


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

This is about as basic as it gets:


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## Balthazar (Aug 30, 2014)

The third movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 17, Op. 31/2, "Tempest" -- a simple four-note motif gets the full Beethoven treatment.


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da!


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Clairvoyance Enough said:


> where the theme loops and is developed more by harmony than melodic variation, if I'm even using those terms correctly.


Morton Feldman, the persian rug period especially. Try Triadic Memories maybe.

Also the big set of variations in Schubert D664/ii

There are examples maybe in Haydn, op 76/3/ii


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2015)

According to Sir Mark Elder, the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 9th endlessly varies the same three note figure - "poppadum".


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

*Simeon ten Holt - Canto Ostinato*!


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