quodlibet

views updated May 29 2018

quodlibet (Lat.). What pleases. Light-hearted comp. comprising several popular tunes or fragments of tunes ingeniously put together, e.g. finale of Bach's Goldberg’ Variations, where 2 popular melodies of the day, Ich bin so lang nicht bei dir g'west (I've been away from you so long) and Kraut und Rüben (Cabbage and turnips), are combined within the harmonic outline of the theme.

quodlibet

views updated May 23 2018

quodlibet. Fanciful type of trompe l'œil of oddments, often showing letters, paper-knives, playing-cards, ribbons, and scissors, in apparently accidental array, painted on walls, etc.

quodlibet

views updated May 29 2018

quodlibet question proposed in scholastic disputation; scholastic debate or exercise. XIV. — medL. quodlibetum, f. L. quodlibet, f. quod WHAT, libet it pleases.

Quodlibet

views updated May 21 2018

Quodlibet

a musical medley; a collection of several airs, 1377.