imitation, in music, a device of counterpoint wherein a phrase or motive is employed successively in more than one voice. The imitation may be exact, the same intervals being repeated at the same or different pitches, or it may be free, in which case numerous types of variation are possible. Imitation was much used in both vocal and instrumental compositions of the 15th and 16th cent. The ricercare, canzone, capriccio, and fantasia—instrumental forms of this period—employed imitation to a great extent and without formal plan. They were forerunners of the fugue. The strictest form of imitation is the canon. While imitation is found to some extent in the music of nearly all periods, it is of special significance in Renaissance music.

Imitation of Christ, The, Christian devotional book, of great popularity. It originated among the Brothers of the Common Life in the Netherlands and was written probably c.1425. Tradition (since c.1445) has ascribed it to Thomas à Kempis, whose name appears on an early Latin manuscript. A popular contemporary theory holds that Thomas copied out and edited The Imitation from manuscripts originating with Gerard Groote. The work encourages a life of mystical devotion to Christ and a distrust of the human intellect. The four books treat liberation from worldly inclinations, recollection as a preparation for prayer, the consolations of prayer, and the place of eucharistic communion in a devout life. The work is a summary of the spirit of Groote's movement, the devotio moderna. The English translation by Richard Whitford (c.1530) has long been standard. It has been revised into modern English (Harold Gardiner, ed., 1955). The Imitation has also been rendered as The Following of Christ (tr. 1941).