Madrigal (music)

Madrigal is a style of vocal performance with origins dating back to the Renaissance era. Madrigals are typically non-religious songs intended to be sung without instrumental accompaniment. Madrigals were popular in the Renaissance era and were a common form of entertainment in the royal courts of Europe and among the aristocracy during this period. In this capacity, madrigals were often used as chamber music, a style of intimate recital in which musicians perform for smaller audiences. The term madrigal is derived from the Italian word matricale, meaning "in the mother tongue."

Two largely unrelated forms of music are called madrigals. The older type is referred to as a Trecento madrigal, a style that reached its greatest popularity in the fourteenth century; the younger type, whose origins date to the sixteenth century, is typically just called a madrigal. The latter type is the form of music to which most people are referring when discussing the term madrigal. This form of music is represented in the modern era by choral groups, who sometimes dress in medieval costumes for performances of traditional madrigal songs.

Brief History

The earlier of the two forms of madrigals, the Trecento madrigal, was one of several styles of music to originate during the Trecento period of Italian history (1300–1420). This period is often regarded as the start of the Renaissance era in European arts. Alongside such forms as the ballata (a form of ballad sung by one to three people and sometimes accompanied by a dance) and the caccia (a three-part song that often chronicled hunts and other chases), the Trecento madrigal emerged as an alternative to the religious music that had previously dominated music composition. The blind composer Francesco Landini was the most famous of the Trecento composers. He was famous primarily for his ballata, though several of his madrigal compositions survive. The ballata genre was always the more popular music form in the Trecento era, and by 1400 the Trecento madrigal had largely disappeared.

Like Trecento madrigals, the sixteenth-century madrigals were meant to offer an alternative to church music. They evolved from a popular form of Italian music called the frottola. The frottola was a three- or four-part harmony that may have been performed with accompaniment, with the lower parts (which typically did not have any lyrics assigned to them) possibly performed by instruments. Beyond these aspects, the frottola was a varied style of music that dominated for nearly a century.

In the early sixteenth century, the frottola was influenced by growing musical inspirations from across Europe. During this period, Italy was known for its strong patronage of the arts and drew composers, musicians, and singers from throughout Europe. Among the most influential of these foreign elements were the polyphonic sounds of Flemish choir masters that layered different melodies together. The early madrigals also borrowed from the traditional French chanson and Spanish villancico styles of music.

The madrigal style is usually characterized as beginning around 1520 in the Modena area of northern Italy. The first composers were largely of French or Flemish origin, and they revived the term madrigal due to their shared reliance upon existing poetic verse for the music's lyrics. By the 1540s, madrigals were more experimental in tone, which led to growing variances among its regional forms.

By the end of the sixteenth century, madrigals had spread to Germany and England, where they remained popular even after having fallen out of style in their native Italy. By 1585, the madrigal had emerged as one of the most popular forms of music in England, though English composers had added their own regional touches to compositions. By 1625, the madrigal had largely fallen out of favor throughout Europe. This style was revived in the mid-eighteenth century by various singing clubs in England, where this style of music remains a mainstay of madrigal societies and professional singing groups. In the United States, many high schools and universities often have madrigal clubs.

Overview

The Trecento and later Renaissance-era madrigals share little in common other than their secular nature and their use of poetry as source material. Like later madrigals, Trecento-era madrigals were intended to be sung unaccompanied by instruments. However, the Trecento madrigal arrangements were primarily composed for two or three voices, each having an equal role in the piece. The lyrics were based on popular poems. These poems were typically romantic or humorous, often with a pastoral subject. All singers sang the same lyrics. The songs were structured as three-line stanzas, each ending with a two-line refrain called a ritornello.

The sixteenth-century madrigal, on the other hand, relied more on stylized poetry that lent itself to greater experimentation than the frottola on which it was based. The poetry used for these later madrigals was typically of a higher quality and different form than that used for the Trecento madrigals. The Renaissance madrigal evolved dramatically over the course of the sixteenth century. The first madrigals, which featured three or four parts, closely resembled the frottola and were comparatively reserved in tone, particularly in comparison to later versions of the madrigal. By 1550 the form had evolved to feature larger choruses of four to six singers. In addition, the link between the polyphonic melodies and the text had grown highly sophisticated. Toward the end of the sixteenth century, the madrigal had become increasingly complex, incorporating a variety of experimental styles, such as chromaticism (in which the song relies upon unexpected pitches for emotional effect) and the interplay between the harmonies and the text (a musical style called word-painting).

Each singer in a Renaissance-era madrigal is assigned a different set of notes. This differs from other forms of choral singing, which typically have multiple singers singing the same notes. The higher notes—the soprano and alto parts—were often sung by women, and the tenor and bass parts were reserved for men. As madrigal choruses had no accompaniment, each singer's part typically had equal importance.

The madrigal achieved its greatest popularity in the sixteenth century. Italian aristocrats were expected to have a musical literacy that enabled them to read and perform music. As a result, madrigals became a popular form of entertainment in the parlors of Italian Renaissance homes. Wealthier families often hired musicians as part of their household staff and had them perform at parties. In England, madrigals were often sung at the conclusion of dinner parties, and both the guests and hosts participated.

In the twenty-first century, madrigals continued to be part of music programs at universities, and many choirs and vocal ensembles continued to specialize in madrigals. Madrigals could be heard at historical reenactments and Renaissance fairs. Contemporary interpretations of madrigals continued to be produced as well. 

Bibliography

Apel, Willi. "Madrigal." Harvard Dictionary of Music. The Belknap Press of Harvard UP, 1972, pp. 496–99.

Bartlett, Clifford. Madrigals and Partsongs. Oxford UP, 2001.

Di Lasso, Orlando, and Stephan Schreckenberger. Prophetiae Sibyllarum: Italian Madrigals; French Chansons. Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, 2002.

Fenlon, Iain, and James Haar. The Italian Madrigal in the Early Sixteenth Century: Sources and Interpretation. Cambridge UP, 2013.

"Genres of Music in the Trecento." Decameron Web, Brown University Italian Studies Department, 12 Mar. 2010, www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian‗Studies/dweb/arts/music/mmgenres.php. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

Gerbino, Giuseppe. "The Madrigal." Music and the Myth of Arcadia in Renaissance Italy. Cambridge UP, 2009, pp. 241–375.

Giselbrecht, Elisabeth. "Madrigal." Early Music, vol. 42, no. 3, 2014, pp. 481–83.

Haar, James. "The Early Madrigal: A Re-appraisal of Its Sources and Its Character." Secular Renaissance Music: Forms and Functions. Routledge, 2013, pp. 163–92.

Haar, James. "Madrigal." European Music, 1520–1640. Boydell Press, 2006, pp. 225–45.

Russell, Brian Peter. "A Brief History of the Madrigal." Vox Madrigal, www.voxmadrigal.org/commentary/A‗Brief‗History‗of‗the‗Madrigal.htm. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

“What Is a Madrigal? A Brief History of Madrigals in Music.” MasterClass, 17 Aug. 2021, www.masterclass.com/articles/madrigal-definition. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.