IT ostinato compositionTechnique core term Support my free tools
persistently repeated pattern
What is it?
An ostinato is a recognizable musical pattern that is repeated persistently in one voice or layer.
What does it do?
Fix one figure — rhythmic, melodic, or a whole bass line — and repeat it stubbornly while everything else changes around it (the word is Italian for 'obstinate'). Put it in the bass and it becomes a ground bass (basso ostinato), the Baroque variation engine under Purcell's 'Dido's Lament' — a descending chromatic lament bass repeated eleven times — and Pachelbel's Canon. In the 20th century the same device drives whole structures: the relentless 5/4 tread of Holst's 'Mars', the grinding repeated chord of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, the single unvarying rhythm of Ravel's Boléro, and the phasing loops of Reich and minimalism.
A floor that doesn't move: hypnotic, insistent, sometimes menacing. Because the foundation is fixed, every change above it — a new harmony, a louder line — registers sharply against it. Over a long span an ostinato builds inexorable pressure simply by refusing to stop.
In context
An ostinato is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same voice. As a ground bass (basso ostinato) it underpins Purcell's 'Dido's Lament' and Pachelbel's Canon; as a 20th-century device it drives Holst's 'Mars', Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Ravel's Boléro, and the loops of minimalism.
Equivalent terms
- EN ostinato
- DA ostinato
- DE Ostinato
- FR ostinato