page_title: Sequence (music)
section_title: Examples
hierarchical_section_title: Sequence (music) / Examples
caption_attribution_description: English: Musical example of a sequence from Johann Sebastian Bach's Fugue in G major BWV 860, mm. 17-19.Deutsch: Johann Sebastian Bach, Fuge G-Dur BWV 860, Takt 17-19
context_page_description: In music, a sequence is the restatement of a motif or longer melodic passage at a higher or lower pitch in the same voice. It is one of the most common and simple methods of elaborating a melody in eighteenth and nineteenth century classical music. Characteristics of sequences:
  Two segments, usually no more than three or four
  Usually in only one direction: continuingly higher or lower
  Segments continue by same interval distance
  It is possible for melody or harmony to form a sequence without the other participating.
  There are many types of sequences, each with a unique pattern. Listed below are some examples.
context_section_description: A well-known popular example of a threefold descending fifths diatonic sequence is found in the refrain from the Christmas carol "Angels We Have Heard on High," as illustrated immediately below ("Glo...ria in excelsis Deo").  The one-measure melodic motive is shifted downward at the interval of a second, and the harmonic aspect does so likewise by following the circle of fifths Play :
  The following threefold ascending 5-6 chromatic (non-diatonic) sequence occurs in the duet of Abubeker and Fatima from Act III of César Cui's opera Prisoner of the Caucasus (compare a similar passage in the famous Rodgers and Hammerstein song "Do-Re-Mi," composed almost exactly 100 years later) Play :
  Handel's "For Unto Us a Child is Born" (HWV 56) relies heavily on both melodic and harmonic sequencing, as can be seen in the following excerpt. In this vocal reduction, the soprano and alto lines reiterate a florid two-beat melodic motif for three and a half bars in a series of melodic sequences on the word "born." More subtle, though still present, is the underlying ascending 5-6 harmonic sequence. Play 
  Other examples include Handel's "Ev'ry valley shall be exalted" ("exalted") from Messiah, the opening unison ritornello of J.S. Bach's D-minor harpsichord concerto. Another can be found in Arcangelo Corelli's sonata de camera gigue in Em. Here the composer sequences up in pitch after cadencing on a V.
caption: Sequence in J.S. Bach's Fugue in G major BWV 860, mm. 17-19, also considered a bridge.[citation needed] About this soundPlay (help·info)
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