frottola

The technical contrast between the musical forms is in the frottola consisting of music set to stanzas of text, whilst the madrigal is through-composed, a work with different music for different stanzas.

The most famous composers of frottola were Bartolomeo Tromboncino and Marchetto Cara, although some of the popular secular compositions of Josquin (for example Scaramella and "El Grillo") are stylistically frottole, though not in name.

Marchetto Cara (c1470-1525): An Italian composer and lutenist, known mostly for his frottolas (light, catchy secular songs that were a precursor to the Italian madrigal).

Polyphonic vocal work (frottola). Monophonic (a single line of unaccompanied melody). Polyphonic (the combination of two or more independent melodic line; also known as contrapuntal texture).

1. : a medieval short lyrical poem in a strict poetic form. 2. a. : a complex polyphonic unaccompanied vocal piece on a secular text developed especially in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Word painting, emotive text setting, and many meanings are typical characteristics of madrigals. Unaccompanied secular vocal composition with three, four, or more parts. The Renaissance madrigal is known for its strong use of musical pictorialization of words as an expressive tool.

What was the frottola? The Italian counterpart to the villancico. It was a four-part strophic song set syllabically and homophonically with the melody in the upper voice.

Motet Definition A motet can be defined as an unaccompanied choral composition based on a sacred Latin text. There have been some exceptions, such as motets with secular text or the occasional instrumental accompaniment, but we'll focus on the most common one here.

One of the most famous and finely crafted madrigals is Il bianco e dolce cigno (The White and Sweet Swan) by Jacques Arcadelt. This Renaissance-era piece is certainly known for its beautiful harmonies and expressive text painting.

Within the context of the Western musical tradition, the term polyphony is usually used to refer to music of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Baroque forms such as fugue, which might be called polyphonic, are usually described instead as contrapuntal.

At the earliest stage of madrigal writing the texts consisted of innocent poetry about love and wit, sung by four voices; but increasingly through the century composers chose highly sensual poems with many erotic images and allusions to sex.

The Madrigal: A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a part song, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, madrigals are unaccompanied using two to eight voices and often polyphonic in texture. They were sung by small groups of singers with only one person per part.