Counterpoint
Imitation and Invertible Counterpoint
Imitation makes one idea serve two lines. Invertible counterpoint makes those lines interchangeable, and the arithmetic behind it is small enough to check.
Imitation
A technique in which a melody or motif is restated in another voice after a short delay, often at a different pitch, creating a dialogue between parts.
Also called: Imitative counterpoint, Imitative texture
Imitation is a contrapuntal technique in which a melodic idea appears in one voice and is then restated, wholly or in part, in another voice. The second statement usually follows after a short delay and may be transposed. In a strict canon the restatement is exact, while in free imitation the second voice adjusts its intervals to fit the harmony. The subject of a fugue is an example of imitation, since it enters in each voice in turn. Imitation can also be inverted, so that the second voice moves in contrary motion to the first. A simple case is a line beginning on C4 and moving up a step, answered a fifth higher by a voice entering on G4 with the same shape.
Related terms
- CanonA form in which one voice imitates another exactly after a fixed delay, creating a continuous chain of entries, as in a round.
- FugueA contrapuntal piece built on a subject that enters in each voice in turn, developed through episodes, with answers and countersubjects.
- CounterpointThe writing of two or more independent melodic lines that sound together, linked by rules for consonance, dissonance and voice leading.
- MotifA short melodic, rhythmic or harmonic idea that recurs and develops across a piece, serving as its basic thematic unit.