Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An ode for one voice or actor, as in Greek drama.
  • noun A poem in which the poet or speaker mourns another's death.
  • noun A style of composition dominated by a single melodic line.
  • noun A style of composition having a single melodic line; monophony.
  • noun A composition in either of these styles.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In music:
  • noun A style of composition in which one voice-part decidedly preponderates in interest over the others; homophony: opposed to polyphony, in which all the voice-parts are equally important.
  • noun A piece written in monodic style; a melody, tune, or air, usually for the voice.
  • noun A composition written in one part only; a solo. Also monophony.
  • noun Monotonous sound; monotonousness of sound.
  • noun A poem in which grief for the death of the subject of the poem is expressed.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A species of poem of a mournful character, in which a single mourner expresses lamentation; a song for one voice.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An ode, as in Greek drama, for a single voice, often specifically a mournful song or dirge.
  • noun Any poem mourning the death of someone; an elegy.
  • noun A monotonous or mournful noise.
  • noun music A composition having a single melodic line.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun music consisting of a single vocal part (usually with accompaniment)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin monōdia, from Greek monōidiā : mono-, mono- + aoidē, ōidē, song; see wed- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin monodia, from Ancient Greek μονῳδία.

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Examples

  • It is sometimes called monody, although the term "monody" can also refer to a particular type of solo song with instrumental accompaniment that was very popular in the 1600's.

    Archive 2009-05-01 Lu 2009

  • Bach is essentially a "monody," a composition of one idea, which preponderates so decidedly as to enforce its character and individuality upon the work; nay, it is the work.

    The Masters and their Music A series of illustrative programs with biographical, esthetical, and critical annotations 1874

  • There have been many histories of Jerusalem, from Jeremiah's sixth century B.C. monody to "For Jerusalem," a premature happy ending written in the 1970s by a successful mayor, Teddy Kollek.

    City of Peace—and War Norman Lebrecht 2011

  • What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!

    Oxford Must Reject Islamic Call To Prayer – Update « Unambiguously Ambidextrous 2008

  • Bach had an unparalleled talent for assimilating disparate influences into an architecturally harmonious whole at a time when an unprecedented number of disparate influences — Renaissance polyphony, Lutheran chorale, Italian monody, French dance music, you name it — was ripe for assimilation.

    Fame, it's not your brain, it's just the flame that burns your change Matthew Guerrieri 2007

  • Bach had an unparalleled talent for assimilating disparate influences into an architecturally harmonious whole at a time when an unprecedented number of disparate influences — Renaissance polyphony, Lutheran chorale, Italian monody, French dance music, you name it — was ripe for assimilation.

    Archive 2007-07-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2007

  • I have some music reading dates set up w/JmB and JO - medieval conductus, 17th century monody (Luzzaschi, anyone?), and hot, fresh compositions by JmB.

    Archive 2007-02-01 Celeste Winant 2007

  • I have some music reading dates set up w/JmB and JO - medieval conductus, 17th century monody (Luzzaschi, anyone?), and hot, fresh compositions by JmB.

    Music on the horizons Celeste Winant 2007

  • Here the chant alternates between monody and three-part polyphony, following the method of twelfth-century Parisian discantus as it has come down to us in the only extant work of Master Albert of Paris precentor of the Cathedral of Saint-Étienne, preserved in the Codex Calixtinus: the Congaudeant catholici.

    Archive 2009-03-01 Lu 2009

  • In liturgical terms, an analysis of the monody in the Codex Calixtinus reveals several surprising features.

    Another early music site bls 2008

Comments

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  • Ha! I kept reading this word as Monday, and then looking at the weirnet definition, then looking back at the word, misreading it again, then back at the definition....

    June 26, 2008

  • Was it a Monody when you did that, jenn?

    June 26, 2008

  • Don't blame yourself. You gave it the full monody.

    June 26, 2008

  • Poetry or music where the poet or instrument laments another person's death.

    September 20, 2009