Recurring musical phrase (5)
(Other definitions for leitmotiv that I've seen before include "Limit vote (anag.)" , "Musical theme" , "Recurring literary theme" , "repetitive theme" , "recurrent idea" .)
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">recurring musical phrase</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(I've seen this before)</span><br/ ><br/ >This is the entire clue.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for motto that I've seen before include "Phrase in a Christmas cracker" , "Short sentence adopted as rule of conduct" , "Watchword" , "Guiding adage" , "cry" .)