This theme was from Bilson's 1585 book, and already sounded somewhat obsolescent.
The bishops' statement on immigration echoed a theme sounded several times this week during the conference: government's responsibility to help the poor.
The themes of self-sacrifice and betrayal sounded in previous volumes are amplified here.
Malenkov also urged a major effort to increase the output of farm products and consumer goods, a theme often sounded by later Soviet leaders.
The second theme sounds like a donkey's pace.
Put like that, his theme may sound dauntingly abstract.
For example, a modulating theme may sound nonsensical without other notes which guide the harmonic flow.
The Expo's theme - water and sustainable development - sounds earnest.
The theme may sound bleak, but this is a fearless book.
But amid the disenchantment and cynicism of the 1990's, the theme sounded somehow hollow.