metamorphosis

A transformation, as by magic or sorcery.

A marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function.

Change in the form and often habits of an animal during normal development after the embryonic stage. Metamorphosis includes, in insects, the transformation of a maggot into an adult fly and a caterpillar into a butterfly and, in amphibians, the changing of a tadpole into a frog.

A usually degenerative change in the structure of a particular body tissue.

In music, either the same as variation (see variation, 9), or that extension or transformation of a theme or subject which often appears in modern music in the progress or development of an extended movement. From Beethoven onward the recognition of the essentially plastic nature of musical ideas (see idea, 9) has steadily advanced and constitutes one of the salient characteristics of recent composition.