Ode

DEFINITION

A song written in commemoration and celebration of a particular event, object, or person. Purcell and Handel were important composers of odes in English Baroque music. One of the duties of the Master of the King's Musick (the most important royal ensemble in England during the Baroque Era) was to compose odes for special occasions such as New Year's Day, birthdays, deaths, etc.Free meter poem usually addressed to a deity.