The gentle lyrics of the Renaissance still touch admirers to the core. The genres of poetic miniatures of that time delight connoisseurs with their strict form. And lovers of ancient literature are attracted by a real fiery passion, concluded in these verses.
Madrigal and its genre specifics
Madrigal is one of the main poetic genres of the Renaissance. He appeared in the initial period of the development of a new style in art. Madrigals were written by Boccaccio, Petrarch and Franco Saketti. At the same time, composers Francesco Landini and Jacopo Bologna began to compose music by poetry of contemporaries.
Translated from Italian, the word "madrigal" means "herd" or "shepherd." Initially, this term was called a shepherd’s song. In the early Renaissance, the poetic genre of madrigal became a short poem. Its content was to praise the beloved. Her beauty, grace and good behavior were often compared by the poet with the images of the legendary queens and princesses of antiquity. And individual details of appearance (eyes, lips or hair) were considered in the context of beautiful paintings of nature.
Madrigal in music
Musical madrigal is a vocal piece. Its text was the words of a poetic composition written in this genre. Sometimes, along with the singer’s voice, musical instruments, such as a lute or viola, were sounded. In the Renaissance, madrigal was an analogue of a modern song, accompanied by a guitar or piano.
Musical and poetic work created in this genre could have different themes. Famous intimate love songs, comic or everyday, as well as solemn madrigals praising the beloved writer.
The basis of the form of these works is the alternation of verse and chorus or refrain. Madrigal's melody is abundantly saturated with melisms and chants reminiscent of the coloratura ornaments of Italian opera, which arose centuries later.
The development of the genre during the period of the high Renaissance
A small musical poetic work continues its development during the so-called classical Renaissance, in the 16th century. At this time, the form of madrigal changes. He loses his couplet structure and gains a free compositional structure. The works of this genre are dominated by the principle of a relaxed expression of the author’s thoughts and feelings. Among the composers of this historical period, madrigals were written by Palestrina and Orlando Lasso.
In addition to the flexible structure, the secular song of the high Renaissance is also characterized by the addition of several layers of musical fabric. In this era, madrigal is a four- or five-voice work. Composers turn to the works of prominent poets Ariosto and Torquato Tasso.
Regional features
In this historical period, a regional demarcation of the stylistic features of the madrigal is planned. Along with the Florentine composer school, Venetian, Roman and Neapolitan appear. Secular polyphonic songs are also written by English and German authors, for example, William Bird and Heinrich Schutz.
Many genres of musical works of the high Renaissance vary by regional characteristics. For example, the Venetian school is characterized by a free structure, a five-voice, a polyphonic warehouse, the prevalence of ancient church modes. The largest representative of this school is the composer Villart.
In the works of Roman authors, for example, Festa, homophonic-harmonic four-voice and a clear structure of the refrain type prevail. The content and nature of the madrigals of the high Renaissance can be different. Many works carry a sharp conflict between trust and jealousy or love and duty. There are also calm and contemplative plays.
The heyday of musical madrigal
Towards the end of the 16th century, the Renaissance enters a new period of its development. At this time, many crisis phenomena in art are clearly indicated. A transition to a new epochal style, called Baroque, is planned. At this time, the genres of lyrical works accumulate new means of expression. More and more sophisticated rhythms appear, associated with the improvement of noteprinting. A significant place is occupied by chromatisms and dissonances in harmony. Composers move away from polyphony and continue their search in the homophonic sphere.
The peak of the development of the genre falls at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century. During this period, composers such as Gesualdo di Venosa and Claudio Monteverdi work. In their work, secular song is enriched with theatrical features: the so-called madrigal comedies appear, intended for performance on stage.
Instrumental accompaniment of the singing voice is also developing. Composers add various musical instruments to the score and even create new arrangements of previously written plays. Some essays have detailed episodes in which the voice does not sound. So, madrigals become harbingers of the baroque instrumental culture.
It is this musical genre that is the creative laboratory in which the opera was formed. In the framework of the searches of Villarta, Landini, Plestrina, Lasso, and especially Gesualdo di Venosa and Claudio Monteverdi, the homophonic style, the system of functional relations of the new harmony and the peculiarities of vocal writing crystallized. All this was complemented by the conflict of drama and theatrical stage design.
Lyrical miniatures in Russian romantic poetry
Poetic genres, which can be considered the heirs of madrigal, declared themselves in the era of romanticism. Intimate love poems of this time appeared in the so-called landscape lyrics. The tradition of devoting short poetic miniatures to a beloved, girlfriend or just a girl friend is traced in the life of Russian noblemen of the 19th century. These laconic verses were recorded in the women's album, decorated with color drawings and vignettes.
In Russian literature, one can distinguish some genres genetically related to madrigal. This is an epigram, epithalam and elegy. An important property of all these miniatures is wit. The honed thought, clothed in perfect form, softened the author’s passionate feelings for the beautiful lady.
Romantic madrigal in synthesis with other genres
The poetic madrigal is reborn in the work of the French poet Boileau. Voltaire also paid tribute to him, the miniatures of which were translated by young Pushkin. Literary madrigal is a concentration of poet's courtesy and admiration for his lady. However, in some works the praises are so exaggerated that they cause an ambiguous effect. The reader begins to doubt the sincerity of the poet's feelings. Under the witty brilliance of his pen, the author of the epigram often hides irony. Instead of genuine feelings, aristocratic etiquette offers a surrogate, a fake, even if wrapped in a beautiful package.
Petrarch's early madrigals are like sonnets. These genres bring together the brevity and theme of unhappy love. The attraction of the poetic miniature to the cold and witty epigram or sincere and sad elegy highlights the characteristic features of a particular poem.
According to contemporaries, in the Russian madrigal of the nineteenth century, the authors tried to give their poetry maximum impersonality. Wit gradually replaced personality. And from that moment begins the decline of the poetic madrigal.
Traditions in modern culture
In modern society, this genre has become a symbol of a bygone culture of the past. Today, many creative groups, whose goal is to revive the art of past eras, choose the word "madrigal" as the name.
That was the name of the famous ensemble of ancient music created by Andrei Volkonsky in the 1960s. The activities of this group marked the beginning of the authentic performance movement in Russia. The long existence of the ensemble left its mark on the musical art of an entire era. Today books have been written about him and films made.
Madrigal was the first Russian performing ensemble, whose activities were aimed at reviving ancient music. Today there are hundreds of such ensembles. Therefore, the tradition of exquisite art continues.