Imitation (music)

In music, imitation is the repetition of a melody in a polyphonic texture shortly after its first appearance in a different voice.

The near universality of imitation in polyphonic styles in Western music (and its frequency in homorhythmic, homophonic, and other textures) is evidence enough of its paradoxical value in asserting the individuality of voices.

In European classical music, imitative writing was featured heavily in the highly polyphonic compositions of the Renaissance and Baroque eras.

In pop music a much clichéd form of imitation consists of a background choir repeating – usually the last notes – of the lead singer's last line.

The clarinet plays a sustained pedal note while the three lines played by the viola and the pianist's two hands express a single harmony, the dominant seventh (F7), to prepare for the return of the minuet in the key of B flat major, the tonic key:The whole movement can be heard on:

Imitation first at the octave then at the M6 in Bartók 's "Chromatic Invention", Mikrokosmos (1926–1939), vol. III, no. 91, mm. 1–4 [ 1 ] Play ⓘ .
" Row, Row, Row Your Boat " (1852) round Play ⓘ . A new part can join the singing by starting at the beginning whenever another part reaches any asterisk. If one ignores the sixteenth notes that pass between the main chords, every single note is in the tonic triad—in this case, a C, E, or G.
Example of a tonal answer in J.S. Bach's Fugue no. 16 in G minor, BWV 861 , from the Well-Tempered Clavier , Book 1 (1722). ( Listen )
The first note of the subject, D, (in red) is a prominent dominant note, demanding that the first note of the answer (in blue) sounds as the tonic, G, rather than A.
Imitation at the opening of Carlo Gesualdo 's "Or, che in gioia credea" (1596) [ 2 ] Play ⓘ
Andrea Gabrieli Ricercare del 12o tono
Andrea Gabrieli Ricercare del 12o tono
Bach Fugue XXII in B flat minor BWV 867, opening
Bach Fugue XXII in B flat minor BWV 867, closing bars
Bach Fugue XXII in B flat minor BWV 867, closing bars
Mozart Minuet from Trio K498, bars 76–86
Mozart Minuet from Trio K498, bars 76–86
Mozart Minuet from Trio K498, bars 94–100
Mozart Minuet from Trio K498, bars 94–100