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A madrigale spirituale (Italian; pl. madrigali spirituali) is a madrigal
Madrigal (music)

A madrigal is a type of secular vocal music composition, written during the Renaissance music and early Baroque music eras. Throughout most of its history it was Polyphony and unaccompanied by instruments, with the number of voices varying from two to eight, but most frequently three to six....
, or madrigal-like piece of music, with a sacred rather than a secular text. Most examples of the form date from the late Renaissance
Renaissance music

Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600. Dates of classical music eras, given the lack of abrupt shifts in musical thinking during the 15th century....
 and early Baroque
Baroque music

Baroque music describes a period or style of European classical music approximately extending from Dates of classical music eras. This era is said to begin in music after the Renaissance music and was followed by the Classical music era....
 eras, and principally come from Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 and Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
.

Madrigali spirituali were almost always intended for an audience of cultivated, often aristocratic amateurs. They were performed at private houses, academies, and courts of noblemen in Italy and adjacent countries, but almost certainly were not used liturgically.






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A madrigale spirituale (Italian; pl. madrigali spirituali) is a madrigal
Madrigal (music)

A madrigal is a type of secular vocal music composition, written during the Renaissance music and early Baroque music eras. Throughout most of its history it was Polyphony and unaccompanied by instruments, with the number of voices varying from two to eight, but most frequently three to six....
, or madrigal-like piece of music, with a sacred rather than a secular text. Most examples of the form date from the late Renaissance
Renaissance music

Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600. Dates of classical music eras, given the lack of abrupt shifts in musical thinking during the 15th century....
 and early Baroque
Baroque music

Baroque music describes a period or style of European classical music approximately extending from Dates of classical music eras. This era is said to begin in music after the Renaissance music and was followed by the Classical music era....
 eras, and principally come from Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 and Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
.

Madrigali spirituali were almost always intended for an audience of cultivated, often aristocratic amateurs. They were performed at private houses, academies, and courts of noblemen in Italy and adjacent countries, but almost certainly were not used liturgically. The madrigale spirituale was an a cappella
A cappella

Acappella music is vocal music or singing without musical instrument accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance music polyphony and Baroque concertato style....
 form, though instrumental accompaniment was used on occasion, especially after 1600.

During the Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation

The Counter-Reformation denotes the period of Roman Catholic Church revival from the pontificate of Pope Pius IV in 1560 to the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648....
, there was to some degree a reaction against the secularization of the art of music in Italy, Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 and the southern (Catholic
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
) portion of Germany. While this did not stop the composition of secular music—indeed the explosion of forms and styles of secular music continued unabated—many composers began to adapt the most advanced secular compositional forms to religious usage. On occasion, existing madrigals were merely fitted with a religious text, usually in Latin, without any other change (such adaptations are called "contrafacta"). But some of the madrigali spirituali reached heights of expressive and emotional intensity at least equal to that of the finest madrigalists in their secular compositions.

The form was probably encouraged by the Jesuits; some collections were dedicated to them, especially in the 1570s and 1580s.

Some famous examples of madrigali spirituali include Lassus's
Orlande de Lassus

Orlande de Lassus was a France-Flanders composer of late Renaissance music. Along with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina , he is today considered to be the chief representative of the mature polyphony style of the Franco-Flemish School, and he was the most famous and influential musician in Europe at the end of the 16th century....
 sublimely beautiful Lagrime di San Pietro
Lagrime di San Pietro

The Lagrime di San Pietro is a cycle of 21 madrigal s by the late Renaissance music composer Orlande de Lassus. It was his last composition, written in 1594, and published posthumously in Munich in 1595....
 (Munich
Munich

Munich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Munich is located on the River Isar north of the Northern Limestone Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg....
, 1595); Guillaume Dufay
Guillaume Dufay

Guillaume Dufay was a Franco-Flemish school composer of the early Renaissance music. As the central figure in the Burgundian School, he was the most famous and influential composer in Europe in the mid-15th century....
's Vergine bella, (ca. 1470) setting a poem in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Blessed Virgin Mary

The Blessed Virgin Mary, sometimes shortened to The Blessed Virgin or The Virgin Mary, is a traditional title used by most Christians and most specifically used by liturgical Christians such as Roman Catholics, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics, and some others to describe Mary, mother of Jesus, the mother of...
 by Petrarch
Petrarch

Francesco Petrarca , known in English language as Petrarch, was an Italy scholar, poet and one of the earliest Renaissance humanism. Petrarch is often popularly called the "Father of Humanism"....
; Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italy composer of the Renaissance music. He was the most famous sixteenth-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition....
's First Book of Madrigals (1581), also setting Marian poems by Petrarch; Carlo Gesualdo's
Carlo Gesualdo

Carlo Gesualdo, known as Gesualdo da Venosa , Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian music composer, lutenist and nobleman of the late Renaissance music....
 Tenebrae Responsories (1611); and the huge collection by Giovanni Francesco Anerio
Giovanni Francesco Anerio

Giovanni Francesco Anerio was an Italy composer of the Roman School, of the very late Renaissance music and early Baroque music eras. He was the younger brother of Felice Anerio....
, Teatro armonico spirituale (Rome, 1619).

See also


  • Motet
    Motet

    In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choir musical compositions.The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is "motectum", and the Italian mottetto was also used....