IDIOMELO ('Ildoμελoν). — It is a poetic composition or stanza made with a certain number of syllables and with its own rhythm and melody, which does not serve as a model or prototype for others. In this it differs from the so-called προσόμοια, because these follow the modulation of another idiomelo. The finest examples of idiomela in Byzantine hymnography are found in the Vespers of the Sundays of Lent.
BIBL.: J. B. Pitra, Hymnographie de l'Eglise grecque, Rome 1867, p. 22 and passim; W. Christ - M. Paranikas, Anthologia graeca carminum christianorum, Leipzig 1871; E. Bouvy, Poètes et mélodes, Nîmes 1886; G. I. Papadopulo, Συμβολαία της Ιστορίας της παρ' ημών εκκλησιαστικής μουσικής, Athens 1896.