Short answers, pulled from the story.
A leitmotif is a short, recurring musical phrase that acts as an auditory memory for the listener. This musical fragment can be melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic and serves to bind a work together into a coherent whole. The word is a partial anglicization of the German Leitmotiv, meaning leading or guiding motif.
The earliest instances of such characteristic, short, recurring motifs in orchestral music can be traced back to the early seventeenth century. These examples were found specifically in Claudio Monteverdi's opera L'Orfeo and laid the groundwork for a method that would eventually allow composers to bind a work together without the need for words.
Richard Wagner stands as the earliest composer most specifically associated with the concept of the leitmotif. His cycle of four operas, Der Ring des Nibelungen, written between 1853 and 1869, utilizes hundreds of leitmotifs often related to specific characters, things, or situations. Wagner never authorized the use of the word itself, yet his work remains the primary example of the technique.
The technique evolved from its early roots in the seventeenth century to its current status as a fundamental tool in modern media. The first use of a leitmotif in film appeared in the movie M in 1931, and the technique is now used in video games such as Minecraft and Final Fantasy XIV to shape emotional responses. Modern applications demonstrate the versatility of the technique, adapting to new media and storytelling formats while retaining the core function of creating emotional and narrative connections.
In the Jaws franchise, the main shark theme composed by John Williams in 1975 is a suspenseful motif that is a simple alternating pattern of two notes, E and F. In the first Star Wars film in 1977, John Williams used a large number of themes specifically associated with people and concepts, including a motif for Darth Vader and another for the Force. Williams later revisited this material for the prequel trilogy starting in 1999 and the sequel trilogy starting in 2015.