A madrigal is a type of non-religious vocal music that was popular during the Renaissance (15th–16th centuries) and early Baroque (1580–1650) periods. Some European composers later revisited this style. The polyphonic madrigal is sung without instruments, and the number of voices ranges from two to eight, though it most often includes three to six voices. The rhythm of the madrigal typically follows two or three groups of three lines (tercets), followed by one or two groups of two lines (couplets). Unlike songs that repeat the same music for each verse, most madrigals are through-composed, meaning each stanza of lyrics has unique music that reflects the emotions in the words.

Madrigals from the 1520s were influenced by several musical forms. Some came from the frottola, a style with music set to repeated stanzas of text. Others developed from composers’ interest in Italian poetry and the French chanson, as well as the complex harmonies of the motet. The madrigal differs from the frottola because it uses different music for each stanza. Renaissance madrigals are also distinct from the earlier 14th-century Italian Trecento madrigal, which had only two to three voices. Both share the name "madrigal," though the origin of the word is debated. Some suggest it comes from the Latin "matricalis," meaning "related to a mother church" or "simple." Others believe it derives from the Hebrew word "madriga," meaning "step," with the suffix "-al" meaning "in the style of," describing the step-like flow of the melody.

During the Renaissance, the madrigal was the most important form of secular music in Italy. It reached its peak in the late 16th century, when German and English composers, such as John Wilbye, Thomas Weelkes, and Thomas Morley, adopted the style. English madrigals were typically a cappella (without instruments) and used three to six voices, often copying or adapting Italian musical styles. By the mid-16th century, Italian composers began blending madrigals with the cantata and dialogue. By the early 17th century, the aria (a solo song in opera) replaced the madrigal in operatic music.

History

The madrigal is a type of music that developed in Italy during the 1500s because of humanist ideas. First, people began using Italian more often for daily life and communication instead of Latin. In 1501, Pietro Bembo, a writer, published a version of Petrarch’s poetry. He also wrote about how to write graceful texts by paying attention to how words sound and their arrangement in sentences. As a form of poetry, the madrigal had an uneven number of lines (usually 7–11 syllables) without repeating lines.

Second, Italy became a popular place for composers from the Franco-Flemish school, who were drawn to Italian culture and jobs in aristocratic courts or the Roman Catholic Church. These composers were skilled in writing religious music with many voices, but they were unfamiliar with Italian secular music, which was lighter and different from the music of their homeland, such as the chanson.

Third, the printing press made sheet music easier to find in Italy. Common music styles at the time, like the frottola and ballata, were simple and used repeated lines and a high voice with simple harmonies. These styles were less complex than the music of the Franco-Flemish school. At the same time, Italian tastes in literature were changing from light, simple verses to more serious writing, like the style promoted by Bembo, which required more flexible music.

The madrigal gradually replaced the frottola in the 1520s. Early madrigals were published in a book called Musica di messer Bernardo Pisano sopra le canzone del Petrarcha (1520) by Bernardo Pisano. Though no piece was called a madrigal at first, some used Petrarch’s poetic style and techniques like word-painting, which later became key features of madrigals. Another important book, Madrigali de diversi musici: libro primo de la Serena (1530), by Philippe Verdelot, included music by other composers.

In 1533–34, Verdelot published two popular books of four-voice madrigals that were reprinted in 1540. This success inspired Adrian Willaert, a leader of the Franco-Flemish school, to adapt some madrigals for single voices and lute. In 1541, Verdelot also published madrigals with five and six voices. The first book of madrigals by Jacques Arcadelt, Il primo libro di madrigali (1539), became the most reprinted madrigal book of its time. Arcadelt and Verdelot’s music was closer to French chansons than Italian frottola or motets because French was their native language. They focused on setting text clearly, as Bembo suggested, and wrote music that flowed continuously instead of repeating lines.

Although the madrigal began in Florence and Rome, by the mid-1500s, Venice became the center of musical activity. Events like the Sack of Rome (1527) and the Siege of Florence (1529–1530) reduced those cities’ importance. Venice was also a major music publishing center, and St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice attracted musicians from Europe. Adrian Willaert and his colleagues at the basilica, including Girolamo Parabosco, Jacques Buus, and Cipriano de Rore, were key madrigal composers of the time.

Unlike Arcadelt and Verdelot, Willaert preferred complex music with many voices, similar to religious motets. He used both simple and complex textures to highlight the text, often using Petrarch’s sonnets. Cipriano de Rore, the most influential madrigal composer, used dramatic techniques like word-painting and unusual harmonies, which became defining features of the genre. His style influenced the standard five-voice structure of madrigals.

By the early 1600s, composers like Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Orlande de Lassus, and Philippe de Monte were writing madrigals. In Venice, Andrea Gabrieli composed madrigals with bright, open harmonies. At the court of Alfonso II d’Este in Ferrara, the Concerto delle donne (a group of female singers) performed ornamented madrigals with instrumental accompaniment. Their performances inspired composers to visit Ferrara and other cities, where similar groups were formed, like in Florence and Rome.

In the 1560s, composers like Marc’Antonio Ingegneri and Andrea Gabrieli added lighter, dance-like rhythms to madrigals, replacing serious themes with carefree subjects. By the late 1500s, composers used word-painting to match music with lyrics, such as using fast notes for “smile” or falling notes for “sigh.” However, by the 1600s, Thomas Campion criticized word-painting as overly childish.

By the end of the 1500s, the madrigal’s role in society changed, leading to new musical forms. Since its creation, the madrigal had two main purposes: (i) private entertainment and (ii) public performances in courts and religious settings.

Madrigalists

• Francesco Landini
• Jacopo da Bologna

• Jacques Arcadelt – I Libro a 4, 1543. Wrote the most widely printed collection of madrigals.
• Francesco Corteccia – composer for the court of Cosimo I de Medici
• Costanzo Festa – I Libro a 3, 1541.
• Bernardo Pisano
• Cypriano de Rore – I Libro a 5, 1542
• Philippe Verdelot – I Libro a 5, 1535. One of the first composers of madrigals, also connected to the Medici court
• Adrian Willaert – composer from Franco-Flanders, founder of the Venetian School

• Andrea Gabrieli – I Libro a 3, 1575
• Orlando di Lasso
• Francisco Leontaritis
• Philippe de Monte – wrote the most madrigal books of any composer.
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – best known for sacred music, also composed at least 140 secular madrigals.
• Giovan Leonardo Primavera

• Camillo Cortellini – I Libro a 5 e 6, 1583
• Carlo Gesualdo – I Libro, 1594
• Sigismondo d'India – I Libro a 5, 1606
• Luzzasco Luzzaschi – I Libro a 5, 1571
• Luca Marenzio – I Libro a 5, 1580
• Claudio Monteverdi – I Libro a 5, 1587
• Giaches de Wert – I Libro a 5, 1558

The a capella madrigal for four or five voices continued alongside the new concertato style. However, the seconda prattica style introduced a separate bass line, shown in the Fifth Book of Madrigals (1605) by Claudio Monteverdi.

• Agostino Agazzari – I Libro a 5, 1600
• Adriano Banchieri
• Antonio Caldara
• Antonio Lotti
• Giulio Caccini
• Antonio Cifra – I Libro a 5, 1605
• Sigismondo d'India
• Marco da Gagliano – I Libro a 5, 1602
• Alessandro Grandi
• Marco Marazzoli
• Domenico Mazzocchi – Madrigali a 5, 1638
• Claudio Monteverdi
• Giovanni Priuli – I Libro, 1604
• Paolo Quagliati – I Libro a 4, 1608
• Michelangelo Rossi
• Salamone Rossi – I Libro a 5, 1600. His Secondo Libro, 1602, was the first madrigal book published with a continuous bass line.
• Claudio Saracini
• Barbara Strozzi – I Libro a 2-5vv with bc, 1644
• Orazio Vecchi – I Libro a 6, 1583

• Hans Leo Hassler – I Libro, 1600
• Johann Hermann Schein
• Heinrich Schütz – I Libro a 5, Venice 1611.

• Thomas Bateson
• William Byrd
• John Dowland
• John Farmer
• Orlando Gibbons
• Thomas Morley
• Thomas Tomkins
• Thomas Weelkes
• John Wilbye

About 60 madrigals from the English School are included in The Oxford Book of English Madrigals.

• Samuel Wesley
• Thomas Attwood Walmisley
• Joseph Barnby
• John Wall Callcott

• Robert Lucas de Pearsall
• Vincent d'Indy

• Paul Hindemith
• Constant Lambert
• Bohuslav Martinů
• Luigi Dallapiccola
• Gian Francesco Malipiero

• Gavin Bryars
• George Crumb
• Emma Lou Diemer
• Mauricio Kagel
• Morten Lauridsen
• György Ligeti
• Paul Mealor
• Moondog
• Henri Pousseur
• Ned Rorem

Musical examples

• Stage 1 Madrigal: Arcadelt, Ahime, dov'e bel viso, 1538
• Stage 2 Madrigal (first practice): Willaert, Aspro core e selvaggio, mid-1540s
• Stage 3 Madrigal (second practice): Gesualdo, Io parto e non piu dissi, 1590–1611
• Stage 4 Madrigal: Caccini, Perfidissimo volto, 1602
• Stage 5 Madrigal: Monteverdi, Il Combatimento di Tancredi et Clorinda, 1624
• English Madrigal: Weelkes, O Care, thou wilt despatch me, late 16th century/early 17th century
• A 19th-century version of an English Madrigal: "Brightly dawns our wedding day" from the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera, The Mikado (1885)