Thematic Transformation - Legacy

Legacy

In perfecting this compositional method, Liszt made what some critics consider a lasting contribution to the history of musical form since thematic transformation became a regular part of later 19th-century music, especially at the hands of Liszt's followers. Liszt authority Humphrey Searle points out that "the serial methods of Schönberg, for instance, use precisely the methods of Liszt's thematic transformation within the framework of an entirely different language." Richard Wagner, Gustav Holst, and John Williams heavily used thematic transformation in their compositions. Thematic transformation is used widely today in film scores such as in Up where the character themes have as many as four variations throughout the movie.