hymnody

hym•no•dy (HIM-nuh-dee)  n

Definition:
1. the singing or the composition of hymns or sacred songs
2. hymns collectively, especially the collective hymns of a specific religion, place, or period
3. a study of hymns and their composers
4. the preparation of expository material and bibliographies concerning hymns

Origin:
1711; from Medieval Latin hymnodia,  from Greek hymnoidía  "chanting of a hymn", equivalent to hýmn  "hymn" + oidía  "singing" ( aoid-  "sing" + -ia)

Related:
Related Words: hymn, ode

Sentence Examples:
• This volume is presented because the author believes that the hymnody of the West must find much of its finest enrichment in the praise literature of the Church of the East.  -Hymns from the Greek Office Books, John Brownlie

• From the many English synonyms for song I have selected the word chant to translate qaçàl. In its usual signification hymnody may be its more exact equivalent, but it is a less convenient term than chant. -The Mountain Chant, Washington Matthews

• There is something very strange and surprising in this state of things, this contrast between the primitive Church with its few simple melodies that ravished the educated hearer, and our own full-blown institution with its hymn-book of some 600 tunes, which when it is opened fills the sensitive worshipper with dismay, so that there are persons who would rather not go inside a church than subject themselves to the trial. What is the matter? What is it that is wrong with our hymnody? Even where there is not such rooted disgust as I have implied, there is a growing conviction that some reform is needed in words or music, or both.A Practical Discourse on Some Principles of Hymn-Singing, Robert Bridges

Sources: Dictionary.com, Free Dictionary

Word-E: A Word-A-Day

quodlibet

quod•li•bet (KWOD-luh-bet)  n

Definition:
1. a whimsical combination of familiar melodies or texts
2. a philosophical or theological point proposed for disputation; also : a disputation on such a point

Origin:
1350–1400;  Middle English, from Medieval Latin quodlibetum, from Latin quodlibet, neuter of quilibet any whatever, from qui who, what + libet it pleases, from libe-re to please

Sentence Examples:
• As you may know, Marcy Weckler has made several fine contributions in the WLP choral catalogue. Here, she has created an interesting quodlibet making clever use of the treasured hymns "Were You There" and "Amazing Grace."
• The most rousing quodlibet was one whose three simultaneous lines began: "Blue moon. You saw me standing alone." "Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly." "Sh-boom, sh-boom. Ya-da-da-da da-da-da da-da-da."
• Yet all of this gives us at least a contextual basis for assuming that when Tinctoris quoted in his quodlibet a famous work that was then ascribed to Dunstable, along with 'L'Homme arme' as tenor, he may in effect have been using or have invented an illustration of he quodlibet principle that would reflect in microcosm the affinity between the earlier.

The Storyline
As she rummaged in her purse for some change, the music from her earphones, from a passing car and the sounds of the city formed an odd quodlibet in her ear.

Why This Word:

What a shift of meaning this humble if slightly exotic term has undergone. Though the first sense has fallen out of day-to-day use, it is usually given in dictionaries because philosophers at times have cause to refer to some medieval quodlibet.

These disputations, often on subtle points of logic or religious doctrine, were frequently exercises or improvised oral examinations for students, in the same spirit as moots (mock court cases) are for the legal fraternity. This may be why this Latin word was given to them, as it derives from quod, what, plus libet, it pleases, so roughly “what pleases you” or “as you like”. It seems to have had much the same idea behind it as the modern hand-waving whatever — argue away, the word seems to be saying, the result is of little consequence.

How it got from philosophy to music is intriguing, not least because it didn’t happen in English. In the late Middle Ages in Germany, quodlibet started to be applied to type of humour that featured daft lists of items loosely combined under an absurd theme — one example was objects forgotten by women fleeing from a harem. Something similar happened in France, where a quodlibet became a witty riddle — even today, avoir de quolibet means to produce clever repartee on demand.

The German idea of the humorous conglomeration was first applied to a musical composition by Wolfgang Schmeltzl in 1544 and the name later became the usual term in that language for facetious combinations of tunes haphazardly combined. Famous examples exist in works by Bach and Mozart in the eighteenth century. In this connection it certainly lives up to the idea behind the Latin word, since the aim is to produce a humorous amalgam of tunes to please the audience.

While the disputational sense is recorded in English from the twelfth century, the musical one only appears in 1845 and was clearly borrowed from German.

Sources: Merriam-Webster, World Wide Words

Word-E: A Word-A-Day