Madrigal

A madrigal is a setting for two or more voices of a secular text, often in Italian. The madrigal has its origins in the frottola, and was also influenced by the motet and the French chanson of the Renaissance. It is related mostly by name alone to the Italian trecento madrigal of the late 13th and 14th centuries; those madrigals were settings for 2 or 3 voices without accompaniment, or with instruments possibly doubling the vocal lines. The madrigal was a piece which was set to a love poem with word-painting and unexpected harmonies to attract the listener's attention. The distribution of such artistic love songs through madrigals demonstrated the importance of true love and that living for the sake of others was a core value in the Renaissance era.

A troubadore composing lyrics, Germany c.1300

Madrigal publications

Its rise started with the Primo libro di Madrigali of Philippe Verdelot, published in 1533 in Venice, which was the first book of identifiable madrigals. This publication was a great success and the form spread rapidly, first in Italy and up to the end of the century to several other countries in Europe. Especially in England the madrigal was highly appreciated after the publication of Nicholas Yonge's Musica Transalpina in 1588, a collection of Italian madrigals with translated texts which started a madrigal culture of its own. The madrigal had a much longer life in England than in the rest of Europe: composers continued to produce works of astonishing quality even after the form had gone out of fashion on the Continent (see English Madrigal School).

Early madrigal techniques

Madrigalists were particularly ingenious with so-called "madrigalisms" — passages in which the music assigned to a particular word expresses its meaning, for example, setting riso (smile) to a passage of quick, running notes which imitate laughter, or sospiro (sigh) to a note which falls to the note below. This technique is also known as "word-painting" and can be found not only in madrigals but in other vocal music of the period. The most important of the late madrigalists are certainly Luca Marenzio, Carlo Gesualdo, and Claudio Monteverdi, who integrated in 1605 the basso continuo into the form and later composed the book Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi (1638) (Madrigals of War and Love), which is, however, an example of the early Baroque madrigal; some of the compositions in this book bear little relation to the a cappella madrigals of the previous century.

Modern Madrigals

Nowadays, madrigals are often sung by high school or college madrigal choirs often in the context of a madrigal dinner which may also include a play, Renaissance costumes, and instrumental chamber music.

Importance of the Madrigal

The madrigal was the most important secular form of music of its time. It bloomed especially in the second half of the 16th century, losing its importance by the third decade of the 17th century, when it vanished through the rise of newer secular forms as the opera and merged with the cantata and the dialogue.

Composers of early madrigals

• Jacques Arcadelt
• Adrian Willaert
• Costanzo Festa
• Cypriano de Rore
• Philippe Verdelot
• Bernardo Pisano

The classic madrigal composers

• Orlando di Lasso
• Andrea Gabrieli
• Claudio Monteverdi
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
• Philippe de Monte

The late madrigalists

• Giaches de Wert
• Luzzasco Luzzaschi
• Luca Marenzio
• Carlo Gesualdo
• Sigismondo d'India

Composers of Baroque "concerted" madrigals (with instruments)

• Orazio Vecchi
• Adriano Banchieri
• Giulio Caccini
• Claudio Monteverdi
• Heinrich Schütz
• Hans Leo Hassler
• Johann Hermann Schein

English madrigal school

• William Byrd
• John Dowland
• John Farmer
• Orlando Gibbons
• Thomas Morley
• Thomas Tomkins
• Thomas Weelkes
• John Wilbye

Some 60 madrigals of the English School are published in The Oxford Book of English Madrigals

Impact of madrigals

The madrigal was a secular vocal music which often used word-painting and unusual harmonies. Word-painting had not been used very often until the time of the Renaissance era. Word-painting was a musical exemplification of the text and its use through madrigals influenced many composers to create compositions with street cries or the imitations of natural sounds to further enhance the text of the piece. The piece, "La Guerre" (The War) by Clement Janequin, a French Renaissance composer, followed the influences from madrigalian techniques to create a composition which imitated battle sounds and fanfares to give more realism to his composition. The unusual harmonies were also an accompaniment to the word-painting during a time when Italian poetry was very popular and many composers hoped to create unique sounds to further exemplify their translation of a scenario or environment. Carlo Gesualdo, an Italian Renaissance composer and a murderer of his wife and her lover, wrote many madrigals with unusual harmonies to mirror his emotional state and actions. An example is Gesualdo's "Moro lasso al mio duolo".

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Fellowes, Edmund Horace, The English madrigal composers, London; NY: Oxford University Press, 1948. OCLC 224324
• Moore, Douglas, From madrigals to modern music; a guide to musical styles, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 1942. OCLC 392270
• Roche, Jerome, The madrigal, NY: C. Scribner's Sons, 1972. ISBN 0-684-13341-5

External links

• Monteverdi's Fourth Book of Madrigals Retrieved August 15, 2007.
• Early Music Retrieved November 24, 2007..
• Choral Public Domain Library. Retrieved August 15, 2007.

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