Quodlibet

This article is about a musical form. For other meanings, see Quodlibet (disambiguation).

A quodlibet (/ˈkwɒdlɪbɛt/; Latin for "whatever you wish" from quod, "what" and libet, "pleases") is a musical composition that combines several different melodies—usually popular tunes—in counterpoint, and often in a light-hearted, humorous manner.

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 and textual quotations while the other voices provide homophonic accompaniment.
  • In a simultaneous quodlibet, two or more pre-existing melodies are combined.[1] The simultaneous quodlibet may be considered a historical antecedent to the modern-day musical mashup. Simultaneous quodlibets are found in elementary music classes, referred to as Partner Songs.[2]
  1. ^ Sadie, Stanley; Latham, Alison, eds. (1988). "Quodlibet". The Norton/Grove Concise Encyclopedia of Music. New York: W.W. Norton. p. 608.
  2. ^ Bailey, Betsy Lee. "Echo Songs, Rounds, and Partner Songs". The Music of Betsy Lee Bailey. Retrieved 15 July 2024.