medieval venus renaissance venus medieval bvm

Medieval Venus

Renaissance Venus

Medieval BVM

Renaissance BVM

Can music

(the sounds themselves)

represent sexuality

or sensuousness?

Arcadelt, Il bianco e dolce cigno (The White and Sweet Swan)

Il bianco e dolce cigno The white and sweet swan,Cantando more ed io singing, dies; and I,Piangendo giung' al fin del viver mio, crying approach the end of my lifeStran' e diversa sorte! Such a strange and divergent fate!Ch'ei more sconsolato, For yet he dies in despairEd io moro beato, and I die content,Morte che nel morire To die that deathM'empie di gioia tutto e di desire. Fulfills all my joys and desires.Se nel morir, altro dolor non sento, If by dying I feel no other sadnessDi mille mort'il di, sarei contento. I'll be content to die a thousand times

a day.

The Madrigal

Listen for: form; performing forces; texture(s); text connotations

=central secular genre of the Renaissance+ celebration of the bodily and sensual

I. The Renaissance Madrigal: TextsA. Setting of Italian Secular Poetry

(erotic, pastoral, or sentimental)

B. Poems Short (8-16 lines typical)

C. Each line 7 or 11 Syllables

D. No fixed rhyme schemes

77

117 7

123

45678910

Il bianco e dolce cigno The white and sweet swan,Cantando more ed io singing, dies; and I,Piangendo giung' al fin del viver mio, crying approach the end of my lifeStran' e diversa sorte! Such a strange and divergent fate!Ch'ei more sconsolato, For yet he dies in despairEd io moro beato, and I die content,Morte che nel morire To die that deathM'empie di gioia tutto e di desire. Fulfills all my joys and desires.Se nel morir, altro dolor non sento, If by dying I feel no other sadnessDi mille mort'il di, sarei contento. I'll be content to die a thousand times

a day.

Arcadelt, “Il bianco e dolce cigno”

I. The Renaissance Madrigal: Texts

A. Setting of Italian Secular Poetry (erotic, pastoral, or sentimental)

B. Poems Short (8-16 lines typical)

C. Each line 7 or 11 Syllables

D. No fixed rhyme schemes

E. No refrain (recurring text)

II. The Renaissance Madrigal: Music

A. Form = Through-composed*

*immediate repetition for emphasis still=through-composed

·Through-composed form maximizes f it between words/music·Sacrifices musical unity

Il bianco e dolce cigno The white and sweet swan,

Cantando more || :ed io singing, dies; and I,

Piangendo giung' al fin del viver mio, :|| crying approach the end of my lifeStran' e diversa sorte! Such a strange and divergent fate!Ch'ei more sconsolato, For yet he dies in despairEd io moro beato, and I die content,Morte che nel morire To die that deathM'empie di gioia tutto e di desire. Fulfills all my joys and desires.Se nel morir, altro dolor non sento, If by dying I feel no other sadnessDi mille mort'il di, sarei contento. I'll be content to die a thousand times

a day.

Arcadelt, “Il bianco e dolce cigno

II. The Renaissance Madrigal: Music

A. Form = Through-composed*

B. Close Text/Music Correspondences

C. Each poetic line becomes 1 section of music (marked by cadence)

D. A cappella (4, later 5 voices = norm)

E. Word-Painting or Madrigalism

Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana (homophonic)Long live fair Oriana (imitative polyphonic)

*immediate repetition for emphasis still=through-composed

•M aximizes fi t between words/music•Sacrifices musical unity

• Reflects Sound of the words (speech r hythm; elision)

•Reflects Stress/Accent (on penultimate syllable)

•Reflects meaning of words

To whom Diana’s darlings came running down amain

First two by two, then three by three together,

Leaving their goddess all alone, hasted thither;

Examples of Madrigalism or Word-Painting

And birdsong and the flowers of the field and the sweet sincerity of lovely women

Are now to me as a desert

And as pitiless as wild beasts

Friday Night at Bowdoin

II. The Renaissance Madrigal: Music

A. Form = Through-composed

B. Close Text/Music Correspondences

C. Each poetic line becomes 1 section of music (marked by cadence)

D. A cappella

E. Word-Painting or Madrigalism

F. Veiled Sexual Allusions

Il bianco e dolce cigno The white and sweet swan,

Cantando more singing, dies;

Ed io, piangendo and I, crying

giung' al fin del viver mio, approach the end of my life

Stran' e diversa sorte! Such a strange and divergent fate!

Ch'ei more sconsolato, For yet he dies in despair

Ed io moro beato, and I die content,

Morte che nel morire To die that death

M'empie di gioia tutto e di desire. Fulfills all my joys and desires.

Se nel morir, altro dolor non sento, If by dying I feel no other sadness

Di mille mort'il di, sarei contento. I'll be content to die a thousand times a day.

III. Listening To Madrigals

Some Experiments

Il bianco e dolce cigno cantando more The white and sweet swan,

Ed io Piangendo singing, dies; and I,

giung' al fin del viver mio, crying approach the end of my life

Stran' e diversa sorte! Such a strange and divergent fate!

Ch'ei more sconsolato, For yet he dies in despair

Ed io moro beato, and I die content,

Morte che nel morire To die that death

M'empie di gioia tutto e di desire. Fulfills all my joys and desires.

Se nel morir, altro dolor non sento, If by dying I feel no other sadness

Di mille mort'il di, sarei contento. I'll be content to die a thousand times a day.

IV. The English Madrigal

A. Musica transalpina (1588) ed. Thomas Younge First Italian Madrigals published in England

C. English Madrigal Flourishes 1590s-1610s

B. Two Phases in Reception of Italian Madrigals•Italian Madrigals “Englished”

•Original Madrigals by English Composers

"As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending" (publ. 1601 in The Triumphs of Oriana) composer, Thomas Weelkes (c. 1575-1623)

As Vesta was from Latmos Hill descending, She spied a maiden Queen the same ascending, Attended on by all the shepherd's swain; To whom Diana's darlings came running down amain First two by two, then three by three together Leaving their Goddess all alone, hasted thither; And mingling with the shepherds of her train, With mirthful tunes her presence did entertain.

Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana: Long live fair Oriana!