Madrigal

Italian masters of this genre were Luca di Marenzio, Giovanni Gabrieli, Don Carlo Gesualdo, Orazio Vecchi and many others. The madrigal also became very succesful in Britain, where such masters as Thomas Morley, John Dowland, Thomas Weelkes and Anthony Holborne produced music to the same standard.

Some of these madrigals are among my very favourite music; if you are not familiar with at least some of them, you are depriving yourself of a great source of pleasure, consolation, and sheer beauty. Catalogues and MIDI files (which of course do not do any justice to the music) are easy to come by on the net.

Mad"ri*gal (?), n. [It. madrigale, OIt. madriale, mandriale (cf. LL. matriale); of uncertain origin, possibly fr. It mandra flock, L. mandra stall, herd of cattle, Gr. fold, stable; hence, madrigal, originally, a pastoral song.]

1.

A little amorous poem, sometimes called a pastoral poem, containing some tender and delicate, though simple, thought.

Whose artful strains have oft delayed The huddling brook to hear his madrigal. Milton.

2. Mus.

An unaccompanied polyphonic song, in four, five, or more parts, set to secular words, but full of counterpoint and imitation, and adhering to the old church modes. Unlike the freer glee, it is best sung with several voices on a part. See Glee.

© Webster 1913.