The First Form of Free Expression in Classical Music

Today, we are used to music being an art that is not constrained by certain rigors, especially when it comes to language and subject matter, but the same cannot be said for other historical periods. Stylistic periods have imposed more standard elements on music, from the symmetry of the Classical period to certain standardized forms of the Baroque, we can see how music has been permanently constrained by all kinds of rules.

Perhaps the darkest period that brought real censorship to the art is the Middle Ages. In a Europe dominated by strong religious doctrines, music was monopolized by the clerics, which led to certain barriers in musical language, as well as a prohibition in scholarly music of themes other than religious. However, the genome of musical freedom appears in European courts in the late Middle Ages, but also in the folklore of the general population.

It all culminates with the emergence of the first form that utilizes scholarly writing as well as secular elements in the early Renaissance, the Madrigal.

To explain this genre of music in the first place, we need to know that it is a fairly old-fashioned one, having been present in the 20th century in the works of György Ligeti and George Crumb. It is a genre that even today attracts the public’s attention, especially if it is seen in the context of the Renaissance and analyzed from the perspective of its emergence and evolution.

The madrigal emerged as a form of protest in the 15th century, guided by the ideas of the Humanists who wanted to put man at the center of creation at the expense of the Divine. In order for this to happen, the new genre had to respect one basic rule, namely that the text had to be in a national language, not Latin. This led to a diversification of European musical culture and a gradual distancing from the Vatican.

Another element contributing to the emergence and development of the Madrigal is the financial component.

The Renaissance also brought an economic boom due to trade, which is why Italy and Flanders became some of the most prosperous areas in Europe, but the most important aspect in the development of art during this period was the emergence of the great banking families, such as the Sforza, Medici and Orsini. They begin to invest a lot of financial resources in the development of art, and the Madrigal is a direct beneficiary of this.

The crystallization of the genre is quite rapid, as it uses the same strophic structure as that of a Motet, but also the technique of learned counterpoint. However, the freedom that the Madrigal offers composers both thematically and technically is limitless.

Even if the Motel was a standardization at the beginning of the Madrigal, especially because of its strophic form and Acapella character (strictly vocal performance without accompaniment), innovations in this genre gradually appeared in the creations of composers such as Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa, Orlando di Lasso or Claudio Monteverdi.

In order to get a better overview of the innovations that appeared in music with the Madrigal, we need to look at the work of some revolutionary composers who gave the genre a new vision of its various elements. We must be aware that even the most prominent composers recognized for their religious works have approached the Madrigal in order to have a more intimate setting for the presentation of their personal ideas and feelings, and this category includes the famous composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. With a relatively equal proportion between Motets and Madrigals, we cannot say that Palestrina is an innovator for the secular genre, but his personal experiences transposed through his Madrigals show us another side of the composer.

One of the most interesting composers for this genre remains Orlando di Lasso, especially for his ideas on text and theme.

Therefore, we propose to take a look at a work that is still extremely well known today, Matona mia cara. The Madrigal proposes a linguistic hybridization between Italian and German to portray as accurately as possible the story of a German soldier who falls in love with a young lady from Italy.

As this is a genre without barriers, the story of the two is presented straightforwardly, and this includes specific language, which complements the at least amusing scene and the slurring of words in the work. In all likelihood, this piece could not have come about if di Lasso did not have a loose vision of the music and the elements a work can contain.

To move more deeply into the compositional elements of the madrigal, we have to go to a composer who was totally revolutionary in terms of technique as well as sonority. Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa is an Italian composer who astonishes even today with his use of chromaticisms that were totally innovative for the Renaissance, elements that impressed even Igor Stravinsky in the 20th century.

Experiments such as harmonic progressions, dissonances and extreme rhythmic shifts characterize Gesualdo and even offer a new vision of the sonority of the period, anticipating tonalism in a compositional period that used the modal system.

Last but not least, we must mention the importance of the Madrigal in the transition to the Baroque period. Because this genre was an extremely free one, Claudio Monteverdi made the transition from polyphony to monida accompanied by monida. In opposition to Gesualdo’s excesses, Monteverdi saw the madrigal as a genre based on expressivity and began to use a main melodic line, while adding instrumental accompaniment. Thus, in the 17th century, the concertante madrigal appeared, paving the way for the Arias in the Opere.

It is easy to see how this genre has evolved steadily, and this is due to the freedom it has enjoyed since its inception. The genre was a place of experimentation that helped the development of music in the Renaissance period and beyond, a genre that captivates the listener even today, offering a free vision of art.

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Akordaj is a platform created in the framework of the Spotlight on Music project, through the Erasmus+ program, funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed, however, are those of the author(s) alone and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the European Union or the ANPCDEFP. Neither the European Union nor the ANPCDEFP can be held responsible for them.