A History of the Madrigal

The Renaissance, as you may have heard, followed hard upon the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages were also known as the Dark Ages, for obvious reasons. This Medieval period was marked by an overreliance upon the authority of the Catholic Church and the repression of any and all things that were not intended for the glorification of God. Secularism began to make a comeback in society during the Renaissance and one of the earliest secular forms of music to reach the heights of popularity was the madrigal. The madrigal was a method of combining music and poetry that became wildly successful during the 16^th Century, thriving among the lesser courts of Italy. Over the next century, the madrigal became the preferred method of diversion among these courtiers.

The textual component of a madrigal (anybody remember Armistead Maupin's Anna Madrigal from his wonderfully entertaining Tales of the City series; you don't have to be gay to appreciate it, although I imagine it does probably help somewhat) was dominated by a lyric that was not just poetic, but reflective in nature. Many madrigals overflowed with a vast array of synonyms for weeping or sighing, not to mention dying. But while love and the lack of a satisfactory resolution to the desires of the heart governed the content of the majority of madrigals, that is hardly to suggest that all madrigals were about this. Many madrigals were notable for containing extraordinary satire that very often touched upon political themes. One thing that is particularly evident in all madrigals of all types is a panoramic vision of what life was like in 16^th Century Italy. Many madrigals contain beautifully wrought descriptions of villages and country life.