Threnody

For other uses, see Threnody (disambiguation).

Jan Kochanowski with his dead daughter in a painting by Jan Matejko inspired by the poet's Threnodies.

A threnody is a song, hymn or poem of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. The term originates from the Greek word threnoidia, from threnos ( "wailing") + oide ("ode"); ultimately, from the Proto-Indo-European root wed- ("to speak") that is also the precursor of such words as "ode", "tragedy", "comedy", "parody", "melody" and "rhapsody".

Synonyms include "dirge", "coronach", "lament" and "elegy". The Epitaphios Threnos is the lamentation chanted in the Eastern Orthodox Church on Holy Saturday. John Dryden commemorated the death of Charles II of England in the long poem Threnodia Augustalis, and Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a "Threnody" in memory of his son.

Examples of threnody

• Krzysztof Penderecki's Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima
• Peter H. Gilmore's "Threnody for Humanity"
• Two "Thrénodies" from Franz Liszt's piano series Années de Pèlerinage, set at the Villa d'Este
• Marian McPartland's "Threnody", written in memory of pianist Mary Lou Williams
• Bright Sheng's Nanjing! Nanjing!^{[citation needed]}
• Lou Harrison's Threnody for Carlos Chavez
• Benjamin Britten's "Threnody for Albert Herring"

Three classic jazz threnodies are:^{[citation needed]}

• "I Remember Clifford", written by Benny Golson to honor the memory of Clifford Brown;
• "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat", written by Charles Mingus in memory of Lester Young;
• Moondog's "Bird's Lament", dedicated to Charlie Parker.

Threnody Ensemble are an experimental classical music group.

See also

• Dirge
• Elegy
• Lament
• Monody