What Is a Madrigal? A Brief History of Madrigals in Music

A madrigal is a type of secular, polyphonic song that became popular during Europe's Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Traditional madrigals are performed a cappella, with two to eight voice parts on a given madrigal. Most are through-composed, meaning that different melodies accompany different sections of the piece. By the seventeenth century, madrigalian composition included instrumental accompaniment.

An unrelated form, the Italian Trecento madrigal gained favor in the fourteenth century, but those Italian madrigals were liturgical in nature, and not connected to the Renaissance madrigals of the sixteenth century.

Renaissance madrigals developed primarily in Italy during the sixteenth century, although some early madrigals were composed in the late 1400s. Some madrigalists were native Italians, but many others had Franco-Flemish ancestry.

• Rooted in early polyphonic songs: For much of the Middle Ages, European music was homophonic, with one melody performed at a time. By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, polyphony began to gain favor via forms like the Renaissance motet and the French chanson. These helped inspire the madrigal form, along with the Italian frottola, which lingered more in the homophonic tradition.
• Developed in Italy: Some of the earliest madrigals were written by Franco-Flemish composers who had decamped to Italy to study music. They wrote Italian lyrics and poetry, which stood in contrast to the late Latin lyrics of similar vocal music. Many of these composers—including the famed Jacques Arcadelt—were based in Rome and Florence.
• Venice ascends: By the mid-sixteenth century, the top madrigalists in Italy were based in Venice. They included Adrian Willaert, Perissone Cambio, Girolamo Parabosco, Baldassare Donato, and Cipriano de Rore.
• Instrumental accompaniment: For nearly all of the sixteenth century in Italy, madrigalists composed a cappella music. The madrigalists of the seventeenth century, seeking to expand the possibilities of the form, introduced accompaniment from musical instruments. The renowned Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi was known for both his inclusion of instrumental accompaniment but also his choice to not name specific musical instruments in his score.
• England and the European continent: By the end of the sixteenth century, Spanish, German, and English madrigals adopted traditions of the Italian madrigal. In Holland, Dutch composers wrote madrigals with Italian lyrics. While the concept of French madrigals seemed at odds with the French chanson, Parisian composers still drew influence from Italian madrigalists. Outside of Italy, Elizabethan England produced arguably the greatest number of renowned madrigalists, including Thomas Morley and John Wilbye.
• Madrigals today: The madrigal form can still be heard at Renaissance fairs and in chamber music societies. Some contemporary composers adapt short poems into madrigals, much as composers did in the sixteenth century. Even twentieth-century avant-garde composers like George Crumb, Gavin Bryars, and Ned Rorem have tried their hand at madrigals.

Several key characteristics help define the madrigal musical form.

1. 1. Secular lyrics: Madrigals were among the first pieces of Western vocal music to not use liturgical lyrics. Madrigalists often adapted poetic forms from antiquity, rather than using librettos drawn from theological texts. The Italian Renaissance poet Petrarch was a popular source of librettos. Composer Bernardo Pisano’s collection, Musica di messer Bernardo Pisano sopra le canzone del Petrarcha, from 1520 is an example of this.
2. 2. Increased polyphony: Madrigals evolved from forms like the Italian frottola, which was a largely homophonic style. Over time, madrigals took on more and more polyphony, with as many as eight voices providing contrapuntal texture.
3. 3. Word-painting: Many madrigals, particularly those of the seventeenth century, use word-painting, a musical technique based on storytelling where melodies and tonalities intentionally match the lyrics to which they are set. This makes madrigals an early form of programmatic music.
4. 4. Both a cappella and with instrumental accompaniment: For much of the sixteenth century, the definition of madrigal involved unaccompanied vocal music. Yet early Baroque madrigalists like Claudio Monteverdi and Salamone Rossi began adding instrumental accompaniment (such as basso continuo) to their madrigal scores. From the seventeenth century onward, musical instruments often appeared in madrigal performances.
5. 5. Through-composed: Most madrigals are through-composed, as opposed to strophic. This means they do not have repeated sections with new lyrics on each repeat. Rather, the music changes as the lyrics progress, and past melodies are rarely repeated.

Italy is home to the most famous madrigalists, but England, Holland, and Germany produced influential madrigalists of their own. The most famous composers of the form include:

1. 1. Philippe Verdelot (1475–1552): Considered the father of the Italian madrigal, Verdelot is known for his 1530 collection, Madrigali de diversi musici: libro primo de la Serena.
2. 2. Jacques Arcadelt (1507–1568): The Franco-Flemish Arcadelt was based in Italy in the sixteenth century. His first book of madrigals was the most-published collection of the Renaissance era.
3. 3. Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643): Monteverdi worked in the early Baroque era. His embrace of secular madrigals would help him as one of the key architects of modern Italian opera.
4. 4. Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (1566–1613): The Italian Renaissance madrigalist Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa was known for his daring chromaticism. It would not be until the late Romantic period that other composers revisited Gesualdo da Venosa's daring methods.
5. 5. Thomas Tomkins (1572–1656): Tomkins was an English madrigal composer who lived in the late Tudor and early Stuart periods. He was known for lighthearted madrigals like “The Fauns and Satyrs Tripping.” Musically, he was considered conservative and steeped in the traditions of the Renaissance rather than the Baroque era.
6. 6. Thomas Weelkes (1576–1623): Weelkes was an English madrigalist known for chromaticism, sophisticated counterpoint, and word-painting. Due to the popularity of his compositions, Weelkes’ madrigals were republished after his death.
7. 7. Johann Hermann Schein (1586–1630): Schein was a German composer who achieved popularity in the early seventeenth century. He sought to adapt the Italian madrigal for the purposes of German word-painting.

Become a better musician with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by the world’s best, including Itzhak Perlman, St. Vincent, Sheila E., Timbaland, Herbie Hancock, Tom Morello, and more.