Origins and early madrigals advocated using
vernacular Italian (Tuscan dialect) for poetry and literature, which facilitated composers' creating lyrical styles for the madrigal musical form in 16th-century Italy. (
Titian) The madrigal is a musical composition that emerged from the convergence of
humanist trends in 16th-century Italy. First, renewed interest in the use of Italian as the
vernacular language for daily life and communication, instead of Latin. In 1501, the literary theorist
Pietro Bembo (1470–1547) published an edition of the poet
Petrarch (1304–1374); and published the
Oratio pro litteris graecis (1453) about achieving graceful writing by applying
Latin prosody, careful attention to the sounding of words, and
syntax, the positioning of a word within a line of text. As a form of poetry, the madrigal consisted of an irregular number of lines (usually 7–11 syllables) without repetition. Second, Italy was the usual destination for the
oltremontani ("those from beyond the Alps") composers of the
Franco-Flemish school, who were attracted by
Italian culture and by employment in the court of an aristocrat or with the Roman Catholic Church. The composers of the Franco-Flemish school had mastered the style of
polyphonic composition for religious music, and knew the secular compositions of their homelands, such as the
chanson, which much differed from the secular, lighter styles of composition in late-15th- and early-16th-century Italy. Stylistically, the music in the books of Arcadelt and Verdelot was closer to the French chanson than the Italian frottola and the
motet, given that French was their native tongue. As composers, they were attentive to the setting of the text, per Bembo's ideas, and through-composed the music, rather than use the refrain-and-verse constructions common to French secular music.
Mid-16th century Although the madrigal originated in the cities of Florence and Rome, by the mid 16th-century Venice had become the centre of musical activity. The political turmoils of the
Sack of Rome (1527) and the
Siege of Florence (1529–1530) diminished that city's significance as a musical centre. In addition, Venice was the music publishing centre of Europe; the Basilica of
San Marco di Venezia (St. Mark's Basilica) was beginning to attract musicians from Europe; and Pietro Bembo had returned to Venice in 1529.
Adrian Willaert (1490–1562) and his associates at St. Mark's Basilica,
Girolamo Parabosco (1524–1557),
Jacques Buus (1500–1565), and
Baldassare Donato (1525–1603),
Perissone Cambio (1520–1562) and
Cipriano de Rore (1515–1565), were the principal composers of the madrigal at mid-century. Unlike Arcadelt and Verdelot, Willaert preferred the complex textures of polyphonic language, thus his madrigals were like motets, although he varied the compositional textures, between homophonic and polyphonic passages, to highlight the text of the stanzas; for verse, Willaert preferred the
sonnets of Petrarch.
Turn of the century da Venosa (1566–1613), Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, composed madrigals and religious music that feature
chromaticism not heard again until the late 19th century. At the end of the 16th century, the changed social function of the madrigal contributed to its development into new forms of music. Since its invention, the madrigal had two roles: (i) a private entertainment for small groups of skilled, amateur singers and musicians; and (ii) a supplement to ceremonial performances of music for the public. The amateur entertainment function made the madrigal famous, yet professional singers replaced amateur singers when madrigalists composed music of greater range and dramatic force that was more difficult to sing, because the expressed sentiments required soloist singers of great range, rather than an ensemble of singers with mid-range voices. There emerged the division between the active performers and the passive audience, especially in the culturally progressive cities of
Ferrara and
Mantua. The emotions communicated in a madrigal in 1590, an
aria expressed in
opera at the beginning of the 17th century, yet composers continued using the madrigal into the new century, such as the old-style madrigal for many voices; the solo madrigal with instrumental accompaniment; and the
concertato madrigal, of which
Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) was the most famous composer. In the 1620s, Gesualdo's successor madrigalist was
Michelangelo Rossi (1601–1656), whose two books of unaccompanied madrigals display sustained, extreme chromaticism.
Transition to the concertato madrigal (1567–1643) was the most influential madrigalist. (
Bernardo Strozzi, 1640) In the transition from
Renaissance music (1400–1600) to
Baroque music (1580–1750),
Claudio Monteverdi usually is credited as the principal madrigalist whose nine books of madrigals showed the stylistic, technical transitions from the
polyphony of the late 16th century to the
monodic and
concertato styles accompanied by
basso continuo, of the early Baroque period. As an expressive composer, Monteverdi avoided the stylistic extremes of Gesualdo's chromaticism, and concentrated upon the drama inherent to the madrigal musical form. His fifth and sixth books include polyphonic madrigals for equal voices (in late-16th-century style) and madrigals with solo-voice parts accompanied by basso continuo, which feature unprepared dissonances and
recitative passages — foreshadowing the compositional integration of the solo madrigal to the
aria. In the fifth book of madrigals, using the term
seconda pratica (second practice) Monteverdi said that the lyrics must be "the mistress of the harmony" of a madrigal, which was his progressive response to
Giovanni Artusi (1540–1613) who negatively defended the limitations of dissonance and equal voice parts of the old-style polyphonic madrigal against the concertato madrigal.
Transition from the concertato madrigal In the first decade of the 17th century, the Italian compositional techniques for the madrigal progressed from the old ideal of an
a cappella vocal composition for balanced voices, to a vocal composition for one or more voices with instrumental accompaniment. The inner voices became secondary to the
soprano and the
bass line; functional tonality developed, and treated dissonance freely for composers to emphasise the dramatic contrast among vocal groups and instruments. The 17th-century madrigal emerged from two trends of musical composition: (i) the solo madrigal with basso continuo; and (ii) the madrigal for two or more voices with basso continuo. In England, composers continued to write ensemble madrigals in the older, 16th-century style. In the
Eighth Book of Madrigals (1638), Monteverdi published his most famous madrigal, the
Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, a dramatic composition much like a secular
oratorio, featuring musical innovations such as the
stile concitato (agitated style) that employs the string
tremolo. In the event, the evolution of musical composition eliminated the madrigal as a discrete musical form; the
solo cantata and the aria supplanted the solo continuo madrigal, and the ensemble madrigal was supplanted by the cantata and the dialogue, and, by 1640, the opera was the predominant dramatic musical form of the 17th century. and creation of musical institutions such as the
Madrigal Society, which was established in London by attorney and amateur musician
John Immyns in 1741. In the 19th century, the madrigal was the best-known music from the
Renaissance (15th–16th c.) consequent to the prolific publishing of sheet music in the 16th and 17th centuries, even before the rediscovery of the madrigals of the composer
Palestrina (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina). == Madrigalists ==