Editing Leitmotif (section)

===Early instances in classical music===
The use of characteristic, short, recurring motifs in orchestral music can be traced back to the early seventeenth century, such as ''[[L'Orfeo]]'' by [[Monteverdi]]. In French opera of the late eighteenth century (such as the works of [[Gluck]], [[André Grétry|Grétry]] and [[Étienne Méhul|Méhul]]), "reminiscence motif" can be identified, which may recur at a significant juncture in the plot to establish an association with earlier events. Their use, however, is not extensive or systematic. The power of the technique was exploited early in the nineteenth century by composers of Romantic opera, such as [[Carl Maria von Weber]], where recurring themes or ideas were sometimes used in association with specific characters (e.g. Samiel in ''[[Der Freischütz]]'' is coupled with the [[chord (music)|chord]] of a [[diminished seventh]]).<ref name=":0" /> The first use of the word ''leitmotif'' in print was by the [[critic]] [[Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns]] in describing Weber's work, although this was not until 1871.<ref name=":1" />

Motifs also figured occasionally in purely instrumental music of the [[Romantic music|Romantic]] period. The related idea of a musical ''idée fixe'' (i.e. the object of fixation — a term [[Idée fixe (psychology)|borrowed from medicine]] and also found in literary works of the period) was employed by [[Hector Berlioz]] in his ''[[Symphonie fantastique]]'' (1830).<ref name="Brittan2006">{{cite journal |last1=Brittan |first1=Francesca |title=Berlioz and the Pathological Fantastic: Melancholy, Monomania, and Romantic Autobiography |journal=19th-Century Music |date=2006 |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=211–239 |doi=10.1525/ncm.2006.29.3.211 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249981352}}</ref> This purely instrumental, programmatic work (subtitled ''Episode in the Life of an Artist ... in Five Sections'') features a recurring melody representing the object of the artist's obsessive affection and depicting his presence in various real and imagined situations.<ref name="Brittan2006"/>

Though perhaps not corresponding to the strict definition of leitmotif, several of [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]]'s operas feature similar thematic tunes, often introduced in the overtures or preludes, and recurring to mark the presence of a character or to invoke a particular sentiment. In ''[[La forza del destino]]'', the opening theme of the overture recurs whenever Leonora feels guilt or fear. In ''[[Il trovatore]]'', the theme of the first aria by Azucena is repeated whenever she invokes the horror of how her mother was burnt alive and the devastating revenge she attempted then. In ''[[Don Carlos]]'', there are at least three leitmotifs that recur regularly across the five acts: the first is associated with the poverty and suffering from war, the second is associated with prayers around the tomb of Carlos V, and the third is introduced as a duet between Don Carlo and the Marquis of Posa, thereafter accentuating sentiments of sincere friendship and loyalty.