MADRIGALE. — From “matricale,” with reference both to the language and to maternal song; or from “mandriale,” the song of shepherds. In its most common form from the 14th to the 16th century, the m. consists of two tercets of hendecasyllables with varied rhymes, followed by a pair of hendecasyllables rhyming with each other (schemes: aab aab cc; abb acc dd, or others). From the 14th century onward, the addition of a heptasyllable to the tercets was not excluded; but the verse of seven syllables was mixed in more often in the 16th century and thereafter, when the original idyllic inspiration of the m. was transformed into literary refinement, and a courtly subject matter and even the pungent wit of the epigram were preferred to its pristine freshness. Musically (since the m. is in its essence poetry sung or intended to be sung), its tercets have a melody and rhythm different from those of the final pair of verses (which form the refrain). Characteristic of the m. is that it is not based on pre-existing themes: that is, so to speak, that it is of free invention.
In an initial period, namely in the 14th century, with Giacomo da Bologna, Gherardello, Giovanni da Cascia, and Landino, the m. appears as one of the genuine forms of the splendid flowering of Ars nova (v.). The music, which seeks to follow the text not only in its accentuation but often also in its imagery, is written for two or three voices. The predominance of homophony (that is, the vertical concordance of the voices) lasted until the development of the m. through the work of the 16th-century composers, and especially of those Franco-Flemish musicians who, having lived in Italy, owed much to Italy: such as Verdelot and Arcadelt. But from the middle of the 16th century until its decline, the finest polyphonists, both in Venice and in Rome, from Willaert to O. Lasso, from A. Gabrieli to Pierluigi da Palestrina, brought the m. to a much more complex technique, writing for four, five, or six voices in a style that reflects the contemporary perfection of the motet and benefits from the expressive intensity characteristic of these composers. Their tendency could not fail to pour over into a more solemn conception of the m.: the spiritual m. consequently arose (also as a reaction to the licentious subjects popularized by madrigalian music). There were also cycles or series of madrigals forming more or less organic overall units of varying extent and duration, such as the Festino by A. Banchieri or Le caquet des femmes by Jannequin; in these, a lively and uninhibited descriptive vein asserts itself, and animal onomatopoeias abound, with cries and imitative sounds. M. were also performed, or expressly composed, as interludes in theatrical performances in Italy toward the end of the 16th century (the so-called madrigalian opera was reached). In the forms of the polyphonic m., L. Marenzio and Gesualdo principe di Venosa introduced singular harmonic innovations, oriented toward chromaticism and the pursuit of tonal color. In its final phase, the m. assimilated what was then the great novelty, the new word of music: the recitative melopea created by the Florentines. Thus Caccini, in the Nuove musiche, has m. for a single voice; and C. Monteverdi would employ the “concitato” style for his warlike and amorous m., with instrumental accompaniments and with the use of that pyrrhic rhythm from which his genius drew the idea of the measured tremolo. From Italy, the vogue for the m. spread, besides to other countries, to England, where both collections of translated Italian madrigals and those by English composers, such as Bird, Morley, and Gibbons, enjoyed great favor. A Madrigal society was founded there in 1741.