I came across this word today for the first time in a discussion of music appropriate for Halloween. I had to look it up. Before I share the definition does anyone want to guess or share their thoughts?

well, seeing as you said it was in a discussion about halloween music, i'm guessing it has something to do with music and with halloween. hmmm, threnody, musicky words like that, er, melody? is it scary music? or something like that? demon music? man , it's hard not to look it up.

Thrednodists® are those who view in threaded mode, as opposed to Flatliners.®

(I'd attribute the above but I forget who came up with what first: I suspect tsuwm, folloowed by the highly suspicious Faldage and maverick.)

HTH

If you're going to search for it, you might try spelling it threadnodist.

Perhaps threnody refers to musical works which can be performed on a bugle?

I should have made this a proper game of Balderdash and not given the hint re: Halloween. I will say that "threnody" is not directly related to Halloween.

The first time I heard the word was in the title of the piece, "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima", which made its meaning pretty obvious.

"Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima"

I was just recently talking about this piece. an amazing composition...

aha, i think i've guessed it lament?
sleuthing aside
threnody: the posh word for qwertyisms like thre (the) ehwn (when) and hre (her).

Yes! It is a lament or a dirge, and all punning aside, one of the most well known laments is in fact played on the bugle -- "Taps."

I've never heard "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima" though. I listened to the sample on Amazon.com -- it sounds like the soundtrack to Hitchcock's "Psycho." Is the whole piece like that? If so, wow. You could exorcize a house, a neighborhood even, with such music. It would certainly make for good Halloween music.

Can a piece become threnody through use, if it was not intended for that use in composition? Or is it just metaphorical threnody?

Good question. I'm no authority but I would say yes. In fact Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima wasn't composed as such.

Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima wasn't composed as such.

When did it get its title?

Well I've only learned about it this morning from Google, but here is one quote:

Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for 52 strings was composed at the turn of 1959 and it won the 3rd prize at the G. Fitelberg Composers' Competition in Katowice in 1960 . . . . The piece, which immediately aroused a tremendous interest around the world, and which won the composer a widespread popularity, was originally called 8'37" and at times also 8'26" ; the time of the performance on the stage was thus elevated to the rank of title. The piece represented an attempt to apply the sonoristic technique and rigors of specific counterpoint to an ensemble of strings treated unconventionally as to the manner in which the tone was obtained. "While reading the score" - Zielinski wrote in 1961 - "one may admire Penderecki's inventiveness and coloristic ingeniousness. Yet one cannot rightly evaluate the Threnody until it has been listened to, for only then does one face the amazing fact: all these effects have turned out to serve as a pretext to conceive a profound and dramatic work of art!" The expression of this music was received by the audience in terms of solemnity and luridness, thus making its later classification as "threnody" fully justified. On the 12th of October, 1964, Penderecki wrote: "Let the Threnody express my firm belief that the sacrifice of Hiroshima will never be forgotten and lost."

If you're going to search for it, you might try spelling it threadnodist.

Good point. I was only just being, er, punfully light-hearted in my glee.

thanks for that info, Alex. I had never known that before.

I have several other pieces of music (besides the Penderecki) with the title 'Threnody' in my taped music collection:

Aaron Copland: Threnody I (Igor Stravinsky, in memoriam)/Threnody II (Beatrice Cunningham, in memoriam)

Peter Sculthorpe: Threnody (for cello) (elegy for Stuart Challender) [Australian conductor who died of AIDS about 10 years ago]

Takashi Yoshimatsu: Threnody to Toki (for piano & orch)

someone ough to write A Threnody for Kennedy

http://www.completeclassics.com/p/m/poem.asp?poem=155528