Quodlibet
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A quodlibet is a piece of music which combines several different melodies in counterpoint, usually popular tunes, and often in a light-hearted manner. A very famous example of a quodlibet is at the end of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Another example is Galimathias Musicum, a 17 part quodlibet composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart when he was about 10 years old.
More serious quodlibets can be found in the masses of Jacob Obrecht, which sometimes combine popular tunes, plainsong and original music at once.
The word also refers to a mode of academic debate or oral examination (usually theological) in which any question could be posed extemporaneously. Quotlibet debates were popular through the thirteenth century (1300s).
The term is from the Latin meaning: "whatever" (literally a compound word of quod (what) libet (freely)".