Quodlibet

What it means

A quodlibet (Latin for "what pleases") is a humorous combination of well-known melodies or texts that sound simultaneously or in succession. The effect rests on the element of surprise: the listener recognises fragments of songs or sayings that become comic through the context.

Musical use

The quodlibet is documented since the 15th century and was popular in vocal settings in the Renaissance. Johann Sebastian Bach closed his Goldberg Variations with a quodlibet in which two folk songs are combined over the bass. According to the report of his first biographer Forkel, the Bach family also improvised quodlibets at family gatherings. Later the form found its place in Singspiele and in light music.

The quodlibet should be distinguished from the potpourri, which merely strings melodies together, and from the parody, which alters and mocks a single work.

Performance practice

When you play or sing a quodlibet, make the familiar melodies clearly recognisable and keep the wit in the delivery: it arises when you take the transitions with a light hand and a fitting tone.