Talk:Monody

Poetry
This is actually just an off-topic question, but how does a monody differ from an elegy in poetry? hoopydink Conas tá tú?

ummm.....
oops. 154.20.102.96

Modern term?
The term itself is a recent invention of scholars: no composer of the 17th century ever called a piece a monody. Yet the article Emilio de' Cavalieri states: Cavalieri claimed to be the inventor of monody, often with considerable irritation: "everyone knows I am the inventor of monody," he said in a letter of 1600, "and I said so myself in print." Contradiction?! China Crisis 08:08, 26 January 2007 (UTC)


 * That's a very good question, and I'm looking in to it (and I probably should since I wrote both of those passages). According to the New Grove article on Monody, "...the word was certainly never used by the composers themselves."  ("Monody" article, 1980 Grove, vol 12, p. 497).  I have to find the original Italian of the Cavalieri letter to see what he actually called it, and insert a clarification.  Thanks for pointing this out! Antandrus  (talk) 15:54, 26 January 2007 (UTC)


 * OK... fixed. Cavalieri called it the stile rappresentativo, but in his letter he just called it "this style" or equivalent.  The term "monody" was a somewhat later invention.  I tried to clarify it in Cavalieri's article.  Thanks, Antandrus  (talk) 16:04, 26 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks, it's clear now. China Crisis 10:45, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Monody, really?
While it is true that the stile rappresentativo linked with the early opera has sometimes been called "(accompanied) monody", this is not monody strictly speaking, since it is accompanied. And it is strange that an article entitled "Monody" says nothing of unaccompanied song, as in many non European cultures, or of compositions for solo melodic instrument (such as Bach's sonatas or suites for solo violin or solo cello) that are more truly monophonic. — Hucbald.SaintAmand (talk) 16:34, 6 September 2018 (UTC)