:: Welcome to A History of Western Music

Gustav Klimt. Die Musik (detail). 1895. Neue Pinakothek, Munich.
Photo: © Joachin Blauel/ARTOTHEK

This site requires Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher / Mozilla-Compatible Browser, and Macromedia Flash player.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

quadruplum (Latin, "quadruple") (1) In POLYPHONY of the late twelfth through fourteenth centuries, fourth voice from the bottom in a four-voice TEXTURE, added to a TENOR, DUPLUM, and TRIPLUM. (2) In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, an ORGANUM in four voices.

quodlibet (Latin, "whatever you please) COMPOSITION or passage in which two or more existing MELODIES, or parts of melodies, are combined in COUNTERPOINT.

quotation Direct borrowing of one work in another, especially when the borrowed material is not reworked using a standard musical procedure (such as VARIATIONS, PARAPHRASE, or IMITATION MASS) but is set off as a foreign element.