This aspect of early counterpoint was never lost. But it was reserved for their disciples in the 16th century to lift it into prominence and thus to transform the spirit of all composition. In the hands of certain Italian masters both the French chanson and its analogue, the Italian frottola, passed over into the madrigal, which steadily advanced into a distinct and brilliant history of its own.
The word' madrigal' came from the Troubadours and meant originally a pastoral song, but in later usage it was applied to any lyric poem of decided artistic value. Its musical sense followed when .such poems were taken as texts for vocal treatment. The madrigal was simply the lighter and gayer type of standard part-writing. Its spirit came from secular poetry, which, especially in Italy, was learning how to set forth topics of sentiment, wit or passion in the language of common life with delicacy and charm. The lyric beauty of the words called for lyric music, but this, in the absence of any due recognition of the artistic solo, could only be supplied contrapuntally, though, to match the sparkle and play of the words, evidently there needed to be some departure from the ponderous style of the motet. It was natural that the Italians should lead in developing this lighter style.
No strict definition of the madrigal-form is possible, simply because in all the older counterpoint what is now called' fonn' was either lacking or extremely irregular. The laying out of the music was governed by the flow and balance of the text, though without any close adherence to the mere syllables or lines. Indeed, though occasionally the advance of the voices might be checked and then begin again, real strophe-like divisions were usually avoided. The counterpoint was sometimes developed about a .borrowed 'subject,' but usually passed from theme to theme, specially devised for the phrases of the words as they carne, each then handled imitatively, often with strictness and dexterity, but aiming constantly at beauty of effect rather than a show of learning. Properly a madrigal was based upon one of the media-val modes, but with the gradual change of view about harmony usage tended toward the modern major or minor, with points of real modulation, In later examples the rhythmic side of the form became more definite, catching more or less of dance-movement. Many a license of treatment .crept into the madrigal , before it was accepted in stricter writing.
The historic importance of the madrigal is evident. It raised secular music to honor and afforded a chance for genius to exercise itself in fields otherwise. untouched. Although essentially polyphonic, it really prepared the way for other vocal forms, even for dramatic monodies and arias, since it revealed the expressive possibilities of melody. The earliest attempts at dramatic construction were chains of madrigals, and in the early opera madrigals were long a usual feature. In both Germany and England it amalgamated with the true part-song, to the latter's great enrichment. On the other hand, it served as a step toward independent instrumental music, which at the outset was merely the transcription of what was written to be sung, but which presently set off on analogous lines of its own. Hence it is just to say that the madrigal was the 16th-century representative of what is now called chamber music (Riemann).
In a number of cases what were called. madrigali spirituali were put forth - motets in a style that sought to bring into church services more of the warmth, flexibility and grace of secular music than had been customary. These prefigured the Protestant motets and anthems of Germany and England. The origin of strong madrigal-writing was with the Venetians. Willaert is often named as the inventor, but it is impossible to say exactly who was the first writer in the form, since it was evolved gradually.
Among Petrucci's earlier collections (15°2-8) were about 900 frottole by North Italian writers, largely from Verona and Padua. These slight works were the forerunners of the madrigal, Soon after 1530, madrigals proper begin to appear in print in rapidly increasing numbers, the leading writers entering the field in about this order: . Willaert in 1519, Festa in 153I, Arcadeltin 1538, A. della Viola in 1539, Jhan Gero in'1542, De Rore in 1542, Lassus in 1552, De Monte and A. Gabrieli in 1554, Porta and Palestrina in 1555, Van Wert in 1558, Striggio in 1560, Annibale in 1562, lVIerulo and Caimo in 1564, G. Gabrieli in 1575?,G. M. Nanino in 1579, Marenzio in 1580, .][onteverdi in 1583, Orazio Vecchi and G.B. Nanino in 1586, and the German Hassler in 1590. This list gives but a hint of the magnitude of the subject, since ahnost every active writer in Italy was a madrigalist, and the fertility of several of them was enormous.
The Unfinished Southern Songs
