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Later Developments Of Songs

In the sixteenth century the madrigal emerged as the most important type of Italian secular music, propelling Italy to the musical center of Europe

In the sixteenth century the madrigal was the most important type of Italian secular music, causing Italy to become the musical center of Europe. Early madrigalists returned to the ideals embodied in the works of Petrarch. Later madrigalists like Orlando di Lasso, Carlo Gesualdo and Claudio Monteverdi also shared in the development of the Italian madrigal with smooth combinations of contrapuntal and homophonic voice leading and expressive use of harmony and dissonance that faithfully reflect the text. In England Thomas Morley, Thomas Weelkes and John Wilbye contributed to the development of the secular song with lighter types of madrigals based on related forms such as the ballet and canzonet. English madrigals are expressive and pictorial with accurate declamation of the texts.

The "trecento" madrigal was a strophic song with a refrain and it's popularity propelled Italy into the center of European musical development. The madrigals rise in popularity was intertwined with the rise in the popularity of Italian poetry, and the two forms were bound by the same tastes. Cardinal Pietro Bembo led poets, musicians, and readers to return to the ideals embodied in the sonnets and canzoni of Petrarch, many of whose texts were set by the early madrigalists. Petrarch used vowels and consonants to create sonic effect and was widely imitated. The early madrigals were set to four voices, however later madrigals used five as a rule but six or even eight or ten voiced madrigals were not unknown. There were some two thousand madrigals published in the sixteenth century.

Early madrigal composers were Philippe Verdelot in Florence, Costanza Festa in Rome and Adrian Willaert and Jacob Arcadelt in Venice. The Petrarchan Movement was led by Pietro Bembo, a poet and statesman who edited Petrarch's "Canzoniere" in 1501 and helped set the trend toward a more vivid expression of the text. Ciprino De Rore was a student of Willaert at St. Mark's in Venice was the leading composer of madrigals in his day, and an important innovator. Later madrigalists include Philippe de Monte, Giaches de Wert and Orlando di Lasso. Lasso was born in 1532 and is known as equally for his church compositions as he is for his madrigals, chanson and lied. Lasso published thirty two collections of secular madrigals and three or four books of spiritual madrigals and seven collections of German lied. In Germany Lasso sets the text in the style of a madrigal, giving each part equal importance instead of surrounding a familiar tune with counterpoint. In France many of Lasso's chansons with French texts use tight polyphonic texture, and some are homophonic in the style of the Parisian chanson. Giaches de Wert further developed the style of Rore, and Luca Marenzio was a composer of remarkable artistry and technique. Carlos Gesueldo brought madrigals to the height of harmonic exploration through the use of chromaticism. His departure from notes of the mode are a deeply moving response to the text. Claudio Monteverdi transformed the polyphonic vocal ensemble to the instrumentally accompanied solo and duet, and wrote madrigals of a flexible animated style, rich in musical invention. Monteverdi published five books of polyphonic madrigals between 1587 and 1606, and showed a mastery of madrigal writing with smooth combinations of contrapuntal, homophonic voice leading, and an expressive use of harmony and dissonance that faithfully reflect the text.

Other Italian secular vocal forms include the canzone villanesca (peasant song) or villanella, which appeared in the 1540's and had a lighter variety of partsong. Eventually the villanella began to resemble the madrigal so much that it became indistinguishable. In 1598, Nicholas Young published a collection of Italian madrigals called Musica Transalpina followed by others over the next decade that gave impetus to the rise of the English madrigals. Thomas Morley, Thomas Weelkes, and John Wilbye were the leading composers of English madrigals in the last decade of the sixteenth and the early decades of the seventeenth century. Thomas Morley was a prolific composer and composed lighter types of madrigals based on related forms such as the ballet and canzonet. They are mainly homophonic, in a dance meter, with distinct cadences marking clearly defined sections that repeat in formal patterns such as AABB or the like, with a different strophe sung for each repetition of the same music. The English madrigals gave greater attention to the musical structure and purely musical devices. The English Madrigalists were primarily musicians, where the Italian Madrigalists more dramatists. In 1601 Morley published a collection of twenty five madrigals by different composers, modeling it on an Italian anthology called Ill triofo di Dori. Each Madrigal in the collection acclaims Queen Elizabeth I and ends with the word "Long live fair Oriana" a name often applied to Queen Elizabeth. English madrigals are expressive and pictorial with accurate declamation of the texts. In 1594 and 1612 two books of chansons were published by the Dutch composer Jan Sweelnick. In France however, the effects of the Italian madrigal on French music is evident in the period from 1560 to 1575. Guillaume Costely, Jacques Mauduit and Claud Le Jeune were the prominent French composers of chanson in the latter part of the sixteenth century and imitated the villanella and balletto often.

The madrigal emerged in the sixteenth century as the most important type of Italian secular music, propelling Italy to the musical center of Europe. In 1501, Pietro Bembo edited Petrarch's "Canzoniere" and helped set the trend toward a more vivid expression of the text in the early Italian madrigals. Later madrigalists like Orlando di Lasso, Carlo Gesualdo and Claudio Monteverdi also shared in the development of the Italian madrigal with smooth combinations of contrapuntal and homophonic voice leading and expressive use of harmony and dissonance that faithfully reflect the text. In England Thomas Morley, Thomas Weelkes and John Wilbye contributed to the development of the secular song with lighter types of madrigals based on related forms such as the ballet and canzonet. English madrigals are expressive and pictorial with accurate declamation of the texts.