LEITH. 112 LEITMOTIV. bor by nn iron swinfT-bridfjc. The chief manu- factures are ship*, machinery, sailcKith, ropes, ale, reetilicd spirits, soap, bottles, and Hour. The trade of the port is chiclly in cohmial and forei};n produce, but is also extensive in coal and iron exi)orts. Grain, timber, and wine are among tlie leading imi)orts. A large part of the Con- tinental trade is with Hamburg and Danish, Dutch, and Belgian ports. .-Vn average of 4250 ships enter and clear annually a gross tonnage of 3.000.000. Its own shipping comprises about 200 vessels, with a total of about 11.5,000 tons. Leith is an ancient town, and its history is largely con- nected with that of Kdinburgh. It "buildit ane verry monstruous Great ship, ye ilichael," in 1511. for .James IV. It was walled and fortified in 1540. Some of the walls and a Saxon archway remain of the citadel built in 1050 by Oliver Cromwell's forces, and destroyed after the Res- toration. Population, in 189i. 08,700; in 1901, 70.000. Consult Stevenson, Annals of Edinhurijk anil l.'ilh (Edinburgh, IS-SO). LEITHA, ll'ta. A river of Austria-Hungary, an altlucnt of the Danube. It is formed by the junction of two little streams, the Schwarza and Pittcn, near Wiener-Xeustadt, in Lower Austria, and Hows in a northeastern direction, separating (for a short distance) Austria from Hungary (whence their respective names Cisleithania and Transleithania) (Map: Austria, E 2). Passing into Hungary, the Leitha turns southeast and joins the Danube at Altenburg. The total length of the river, from the source of the Schwarza, is over 1 10 miles. LEITMERITZ, llt'mer-its. An old town of Bohemia, .uslria, on the right bank of the Elbe (which here becomes navigable). .34 miles north- northwest of Prague (Jlap: Austria, D 1). It has a seventeenth-century cathedral, an epis- copal palace, and an old Kathaus, now used as a court-house, and a new Rathaus. The educational instiluti<ms include a higher gymnasium, a train- ing-school for teachers, and a school of theology. Leitmeritz is an active industrial town, having breweries, and manufactures of glass, leather, etc. It carries on a nourishing trade in wine and fruit. Population, in 1800. 11,.342; in 1000, 13.- 075. LEITMOTIV, lit'mfi-tof (Ger., leading mo- tive). A term made popular mainly by Wagner, and applied to the musical phrases which con- stitute the basic material out of which he con- structed his musical dramas (q.v.). Previously Weber had used so-called typical phrases (q.v.), the object of which was to recall a similar situation. In the works of his second period tDiitchman, Tiinnhuuscr, Lnhfnfir-in) , Wagner makes extensive use of the typical phrase. The phrase characterizing the Dutchman or Lohen- grin's warning jihrase arc heard repeatedly, but they undergo no organic changes, i.e. they are always literal repetitions, even if the instru- mentation is varied. It was in Florence that
agner first conceived the idea of expressing
the chief personages and situations of his dramas by means of typical phrases. Any changes of states of the i)crsons were to be represented by corresponding changes of the fundamental typi- cal phrase. The whole music was to be the- matically developed from these simple motives, which he thus very happily characterized as leading motives. Whereas the typical phrase re- called only similar situations, the leitmotiv char- acterizes, i.e. represents, essential qualities of persons, things, and even abstract thoughts. Wagner's genius for musical characterization en- abled him to invent pregnant motives. Thus he is enabled to give typical musical representations of individual persons ( Siegfried, Handing. Kun- dri'), whole classes of persons ( JIastersingers, giants, Xibelungs), forces of nature (storm, fire, forest-sounds), mental states (Briinnhilde's ec- stasy, pleading, ilime's plotting. Kundry's long- ing), general emotions (love, sympathy, conqjas- sion ) . From these latter it is but a step to the representation of symbolism (love-potion. Tarn- helmet, Ring), and general abstractions (Wal- hall, fate, curse, grail). The leading motives do not occur as mere literal quotations; they under- go vital ch.inges, so as to adapt themselves to the most exacting demands of the dramatic .situation. To produce tliese changes Wagner has recourse to all the technical devices known to musical art: change of harmony, rhj-thm, melodic intervals, diminution, extension, inversion, contrapuntal combination of two or more themes. Another im- portant means to vary the expression or emo- tional character of the leitmotiv is the master's marvelous and unerring instinct for instrumental color. As an example the following motive of the young Siegfried may be taken ( Ex. 1 ) . In OiJtlerdiinimrrunfi, when Siegfried has become a mature man, his motive is as follows — a form clearly evolveil from the motive in Siciffricd (Ex. '2). Compare also the following variations of the Sword-motire (Ex. 3). The reader is also re- ferred to the Walhalla-motir as it first occurs at the opening of scene two in Rheingold and the form in which it appears in the closing bars of Gotterdiiinmcriing. Through this employment of the leitmotiv Wagner is enabled to attain perfect dramatic unity. Hence there are no closes or cadences within an act. The leitmotivs make their appearance one after another, are logically developed, run through every act imtil the cli- max is reached at the end of the drama. The final scene of Gotterdnmmerunfj, for instance, is absolutely unintelligible, unless the hearer has n?rr — ■ ' H > (EX
1 4^){ 2-^-^i=£^i^^ ^— • '. -^— ] J V (EX. 2)
