A
quodlibet is a piece of
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
combining several different
melodiesA melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
, usually popular tunes, in
counterpointIn music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent. It has been most commonly identified in Western music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
and often a light-hearted, humorous manner. The term is
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
, meaning "whatever" or literally, "what pleases." There are three main types of quodlibet:
- A catalogue quodlibet consists of a free setting of catalogue poetry (usually humorous lists of loosely related items).
- In a successive quodlibet, one voice has short musical quotations
Musical quotation is the practice of directly quoting another work in a new composition. The quotation may be from the same composer's work , or from a different composer's work...
and textual quotations while the other voices provide homophonicIn music, homophony In music, homophony In music, homophony is a texture in which two or more parts move together in harmony, the relationship between them creating chords...
accompanimentIn music, accompaniment is the art of playing along with a soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner as well as the music thus played...
.
- In a simultaneous quodlibet, two or more pre-existing melodies are combined.
A
quodlibet is a piece of
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
combining several different
melodiesA melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
, usually popular tunes, in
counterpointIn music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent. It has been most commonly identified in Western music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
and often a light-hearted, humorous manner. The term is
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
, meaning "whatever" or literally, "what pleases." There are three main types of quodlibet:
- A catalogue quodlibet consists of a free setting of catalogue poetry (usually humorous lists of loosely related items).
- In a successive quodlibet, one voice has short musical quotations
Musical quotation is the practice of directly quoting another work in a new composition. The quotation may be from the same composer's work , or from a different composer's work...
and textual quotations while the other voices provide homophonicIn music, homophony In music, homophony In music, homophony is a texture in which two or more parts move together in harmony, the relationship between them creating chords...
accompanimentIn music, accompaniment is the art of playing along with a soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner as well as the music thus played...
.
- In a simultaneous quodlibet, two or more pre-existing melodies are combined. The simultaneous quodlibet may be considered a historical antecedent to the modern-day musical mashup
A mashup, bootleg or blend is a song or composition created by blending two or more songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the music track of another.- Synonyms :...
.
Renaissance
The origins of the quodlibet can be traced to the 15th century, when the practice of combining folk tunes was popular. Composer Wolfgang Schmeltzl first used the term in a specifically musical context in 1544. An early exponent of the genre was 16th century
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
Ludwig SenflLudwig Senfl was a Swiss composer of the Renaissance, active in Germany. He was the most famous pupil of Heinrich Isaac, was music director to the court of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, and was an influential figure in the development of the Franco-Flemish polyphonic style in...
whose ability to juxtapose several pre-existing melodies in a
cantus firmusIn music, a cantus firmus is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.The plural of this Latin term is , though one occasionally sees the corrupt form canti firmi...
quodlibet resulted in works such as
Ach Elselein/Es taget, a piece noted for its
symbolismSymbolism is the use of symbols to represent things such as ideas and emotions. Symbolism is sometimes used to refer specifically to totemic symbols that stand on their own, as opposed to linguistic symbols....
rather than its humor.. Even earlier we can find another example in
Francisco de PeñalosaFrancisco de Peñalosa was a Spanish composer of the middle Renaissance.-Life:He was born in Talavera de la Reina in the province of Toledo. He spent most of his career in Seville, serving as the maestro di capilla, though he also spent time in Burgos, and three years in Rome at the papal chapel...
's
Por las sierras de Madrid, from his
Cancionero Musical de Palacio. However, it was
PraetoriusPraetorius, Prätorius, Prætorius was the name of several musicians and scholars in Germany.In Germany of the 16th and 17th centuries it became a fashion that educated people named "Schulze" or "Schultheiß" or "Richter", which means "judge", put their name into the Latin language as "Praetorius",...
who, in 1618, provided the first systematic definition of the quodlibet as "a mixture of diverse elements
quotedMusical quotation is the practice of directly quoting another work in a new composition. The quotation may be from the same composer's work , or from a different composer's work...
from sacred and secular compositions". During the
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
, a composer's ability to juxtapose several pre-existing melodies, such as in the
cantus firmusIn music, a cantus firmus is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.The plural of this Latin term is , though one occasionally sees the corrupt form canti firmi...
quodlibet, was considered the ultimate mastery of
counterpointIn music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent. It has been most commonly identified in Western music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
.
19th century to today
The quodlibet took on additional functions between the beginning and middle of the 19th Century, when it became known as the
potpourri and the
musical switch. In these forms, the quodlibet would often feature anywhere from six to fifty or more consecutive "quotations;" the distinct incongruity between words and music served as a potent source of parody and entertainment. In the 20th Century, the quodlibet remained a genre in which well-known tunes and/or texts were quoted, either simultaneously or in succession, generally for humorous effect.
Variants
In the 16th century, an independent variant of the quodlibet named
ensalada developed in Spain, and the
fricassée likewise in France.
The word also refers to a mode of academic debate or oral examination (usually
theologicalThe term "theology" literally means the study of God, deriving from the Greek word theos, meaning 'God', and the suffix -ology from the Greek word logos meaning "discourse", "theory", or "reasoning"...
) in which any question could be posed extemporaneously.
Quodlibet debates were popular in Western culture through the thirteenth century and are still in use today in
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
an Buddhist theological training.
In the Classical repertoire
- A quodlibet is at the end of Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist whose ecclesiastical and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's Goldberg VariationsThe Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, are a set of an aria and 30 variations for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach. First published in 1741 as the fourth in a series Bach called Clavier-Übung, "keyboard practice", the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of variation form...
.
- Gallimathias Musicum, a 17 part quodlibet composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as...
at the age of ten.
- The mass
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the fixed portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
es of Jacob ObrechtJacob Obrecht was a Dutch composer of the Renaissance. He was the most famous composer of masses in Europe in the late 15th century, being eclipsed by only Josquin des Prez after his death.-Life:...
, which sometimes combine popular tuneTune can refer to:* A melody or tune-family* A tune , a short piece of instrumental music, usually with repeating sections, and often played a number of times.* British slang term, often said when referring to a piece of music that is enjoyed....
s, plainsongPlainsong is a body of traditional songs used in the liturgies of the Roman Catholic Church. The liturgies of the Eastern Orthodox Church, though similar in many ways and probably older than the Roman tradition, are generally not classified as plainsong...
and original music.
- Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist whose ecclesiastical and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's Wedding QuodlibetThe Quodlibet or Wedding Quodlibet, BWV 524, is a lighthearted composition by Johann Sebastian Bach which today exists only in fragmentary form. The line In diesem Jahre haben wir zwei Sonnenfinsternissen places the composition of the piece in or shortly after 1707, when central Germany was...
or Quodlibet, which is not a quodlibet by the above definition but a ten-minute procession of nonsense, jokes, punsPuns may refer to:*Partido de Unión Nacional Saharaui, the Sahrawi political party* Pun, figure of speech...
, obscure cultural references, word games, and parody of other songs. At times, the music imitates a chaconneA chaconne is a type of musical composition popular in the baroque era when it was much used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line which offered a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and...
and a fugueIn music, a fugue is a type of contrapuntal composition or technique of composition for a fixed number of parts, normally referred to as "voices". In the Middle Ages, the term was widely used to denote any works in canonic style; by the Renaissance, it had come to denote specifically imitative works...
while deliberately obscuring the counterpoint. It is unlike any of Bach's other works, and a few scholars doubt its authenticity.
Modern examples
- Quodlibet on Welsh Nursery Rhymes by Welsh composer Alun Hoddinott
Alun Hoddinott CBE , was a Welsh composer of classical music, one of the first to receive international recognition. -Life and works:...
.
- The Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead were an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, jazz, psychedelia, and space rock—and for live performances of long musical...
's medley The Other One includes the song, Quodlibet for Tenderfeet.
- Peter Schickele
Johann Peter Schickele is an American composer, musical educator and parodist, best known for his comedy music albums featuring music he wrote as P. D. Q. Bach.-Biography:...
's Quodlibet for Small Orchestra and Unbegun Symphony.
- Pianist Glenn Gould
Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the twentieth century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach...
improvised a quodlibet including The Star-Spangled Banner"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by Royal Navy ships in Chesapeake Bay during...
and God Save the King. According to his account, Gould came up with this Quodlibet while taking a bath.
- The finale of the musical Rent
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under...
features a quodlibet of three songs from earlier in the show: "Life Support", "Will I Lose My Dignity?" and "Without You."
- Scholar Alan W. Pollack has pointed out that The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music...
' I've Got a Feeling"I've Got a Feeling" is a song by The Beatles, from the 1970 album Let It Be. It is one of the songs on the album from the famous Rooftop Concert...
is a quodlibet of sorts. (See link: http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/igaf.shtml.)
The New Jersey based progressive rock band "Age of Reason" composed and played an instrumental title called "Quodlibet" (Staneck/Vogt)on their first release "As You Wish".
See also
- Mashup (music)
A mashup, bootleg or blend is a song or composition created by blending two or more songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the music track of another.- Synonyms :...
- Musical Parody
Parody music, or musical parody, involves changing or recycling existing musical ideas or lyrics - or copying the peculiar style of a composer or artist, or even a general style of music...
- Potpourri (music)
This article is about music. For the music group, see Pot-Pourri . For plants, see Potpourri.Potpourri or Pot-Pourri was originally a term applied to a jar with a mixture of dried flower petals and spices used to scent the air...
- Medley (music)
In music, a medley is a piece composed from parts of existing pieces, played one after another, sometimes overlapping. They are common in popular music, and most medleys are songs rather than instrumental. A medley which is a remixed series is called a megamix, often done with tracks for a single...