Creatingthe

ModernMadrigal:BringingtheMadrigalintothe

Twenty-FirstCentury

OliviaSwift

Vol.I

SydneyConservatoriumofMusic

TheUniversityofSydney

2019

Athesissubmittedinpartialfulfilmentofrequirementsforthedegreeof

MasterofMusic(Composition)

ii

Statementoforiginality

Thisistocertifythattothebestofmyknowledge,thecontentofthisthesisismyownwork.Thisthesishasnotbeensubmittedforanydegreeorotherpurposes.

Icertifythattheintellectualcontentofthisthesisistheproductofmyownworkandthatalltheassistancereceivedinpreparingthisthesisandsourceshavebeenacknowledged.

OliviaSwift

iii

AbstractThisstudyexplorestheconceptofwhatconstitutesacontemporarymadrigal,andhow

thisisinspiredbyandrelatestotheRenaissanceformofthemadrigal.Specifically,itaims

tocreateanupdated,moreaccuratedefinitionof themadrigal thantheonecurrently

presentintheliterature;onethatconsiderstwentiethandtwenty-firstcenturyexamples

ofmadrigalsinadditiontothetraditionalRenaissanceform.

Themaincharacteristicsofthecontemporarymadrigalaredeterminedviaahistorical-

comparativeanalysisofcontemporarycasestudiestotheRenaissancemadrigal,andthe

designofmyownoriginalmadrigalsactingasamodeloftheform.Itprovidesasurveyof

thefollowingworks:

• GeorgeCrumb’sMadrigalsBookI

• MortenLauridsen’sMadrigali:Six‘FireSongs’onItalianRenaissancePoems

• GyörgyLigeti’sNonsenseMadrigals

• GavinBryars’Secondbookofmadrigals

• JoshuaShank’sColourMadrigals

Itisdeterminedthatthemostimportantelementsofthemadrigalarethesecularnature

of the text, and the expression of this text; the structure of themadrigal as through-

composedsongspublishedinunifiedsetscalledbooks;andthemadrigal’sintentionas

musicofaneducatedsociety,blendingavarietyofmusicaltextures.

By reframing the elements of the madrigal in a contemporary context, it enables

tremendousscopeforcomposerstoexplorethisforminaspiritofrenewal.Ihaveused

boththehistoricalprecedentsandthecontemporaryexamplesasaspring-boardformy

own creative response. I demonstrate the contemporary relevance of the madrigal

throughthecompositionoftwobooksofmadrigalsthatincorporateaspectsofboththe

Renaissancemadrigalsandelementsofthecontemporarycasestudies.Thesenewbooks

ofmadrigalscanbeusedasamodeldemonstratingthefeaturesofthisform,inwhichan

updateddefinitionisclearlyrepresented.Farfrombeingananachronism,themadrigal

isagenrefulloflifeandpotentialforcontemporaryexploration.

iv

Acknowledgments

AgiantthankyoutoPaulStanhopeforbeingthebestsupervisorIcouldeverhopefor.

Yourguidance,passionandkindnesshavebeenunwaveringthroughoutthisprocess.

TothewonderfulsingersofKompactus,forembracingeverysongI’vethrownatthem

overthepastfouryearswithsuchgraceandskill.

Thankyou tomyparents, for their supportandbelief inme; seeingyour faces in the

audiencealwaysbrightensmyday.ToLillyandSandyforallthestudydatesandcupsof

tea,andtoBri,DavidandBellafortheirsupport.

Andfinally,tomypartnerFraser.Icouldnothavedonethiswithoutyou.

v

TableofContents

Abstract iii

Acknowledgments iv

Chapter1:Introduction 1

1.1ContemporaryCaseStudies 4

1.2Compositionalprocessandobjective 8

Chapter2:LiteratureReview 9

2.1Definitionofthemadrigal 9

2.2Text 12

2.3Twentiethcenturyexamplesofmadrigalsandtheirstudy 17

2.4Theneedforanupdateddefinition 20

Chapter3:Text 21

3.1Seculartext 21

3.2Expressionofthemeaningofthetext 27

Chapter4:Structure 51

4.1Through-composed 51

4.2Booksofmadrigals 57

Chapter5:Music 79

5.1EnsembleNature 79

5.2Texture 88

vi

Chapter6:TheCreativeProcess 110

Conclusion 114

ReferenceList 117

vii

ListofFigures

Figure1:Marenzio,Dolorosimartir'-Bar13–18 14Figure2:Marenzio,Dolorosimartir'–Bar26–29 14Figure3:LigetiIII.Opening 23Figure4:Berio,SequenzaIII 24Figure5:ShankI. 28Figure6:ShankI. 28Figure7:Monteverdi,DolcissimoUscignolo 29Figure8:Monteverdi,DolcissimoUscignolo 30Figure9:ShankIII. 31Figure10:ShankVI. 32Figure11:“Beware” 33Figure12:“Beware” 34Figure13:“Beware”-(crotchet=100) 34Figure14:“Beware” 35Figure15:CrumbII. 37Figure16:“TheLeavesDropDown” 38Figure17:LigetiI.Opening 39Figure18:LauridsenI. 41Figure19:BryarsI. 42Figure20:LauridsenIV. 42Figure21:Arcadelt,Ilbianco 43Figure22BryarsV. 43Figure23:LauridsenII. 44Figure24:“Sleepless“ 45Figure25:"TheSpinningWheel”–tenorandbassostinato 46Figure26:"TheSpinningWheel”-sopranoandaltoostinato 46Figure27:“Stars” 48Figure28:“Dew” 49Figure29:ShankV.–startsatcrotchet=138 52Figure30:"TheSpinningWheel" 54Figure31:“TheDancerandtheRunner” 54Figure32:AutumnSadness-Asection 55Figure33:AutumnSadness-A1section 56Figure34:BryarsI. 58Figure35:BryarsII. 58Figure36:BryarsIX. 59Figure37:LauridsenI.Opening 60

viii

Figure38:LauridsenVI.Bars13–15 61Figure39:LauridsenII.Bars38–40 61Figure40:LauridsenIV.Bars16–18 62Figure41:LauridsenI.Bars25–27 63Figure42:LauridsenVI.Bars13–14 63Figure43:ShankI.Opening 64Figure44:ShankIII.Opening 64Figure45:ShankIV:Opening 65Figure46:ShankV.Opening 65Figure47:ShankVI.Opening 66Figure48:ShankIII.Ending 67Figure49:ShankIV.Ending 67Figure50:ShankV.Ending 68Figure51:ShankVI.Ending 68Figure52:LigetiI."Running"passages 70Figure53:Weelkes,AsVestasWasfromLatmosHillDescending 71Figure54:LigetiV.EnglishNationalAnthem 72Figure55:LigetiV.FrenchNationalAnthem 72Figure56:CrumbI. 74Figure57:CrumbII 74Figure58:CrumbIII 75Figure59:CrumbI 75Figure60:CrumbIII 76Figure61:"Dew"–tenorandbass 77Figure62:"Stars"–tenorandbass 77Figure63:“Stars” 83Figure64:“Sleepless”–(bar52beginsatff) 84Figure65:“Dew” 85Figure66:"TheLeavesDropDown" 86Figure67:"Sleepless" 87Figure68"Beware" 87Figure69:BryarsII. 89Figure70:BryarsII.Opening 89Figure71:BryarsII. 90Figure72:"TheDancerandtheRunner"-opening 90Figure73:BryarsIII. 91Figure74:“Dew” 92Figure75:“Dew” 92Figure76:“Dew” 93Figure77:LauridsenI.Opening 94

ix

Figure78:LauridsenV. 95Figure79:Monteverdi,InceneriteSpoglie(SestinaI) 95Figure80:"Beware"–opening 96Figure81:ShankI. 97Figure82:Marenzio,Veggodolcemiobene 98Figure83:ShankI.Bars47–52 99Figure84:Marenzio,Soloepensoso 100Figure85:Arcadelt,Ilbianco 100Figure86:Monteverdi,Crudelperchemifuggi 101Figure87:ShankIV. 102Figure88:“Sleepless” 102Figure89:CrumbI. 104Figure90:CrumbIII. 105Figure91:CrumbII. 106Figure92:LigetiIII. 108Figure93:Ockeghem,DeoGratias 109Figure94:AutumnSadness 111Figure95:AutumnSadness 111Figure96"Stars" 113

1

Chapter1:Introduction

Thisthesisexplorestheconceptofwhatconstitutesacontemporarymadrigal,andhow

thisisinspiredbyandrelatestothetraditionalRenaissanceformofthemadrigal.The

aimofthisthesisandthecreativeportfolioofcompositionsistocreateanupdated,more

accuratedefinitionthantheonecurrentlypresentintheliterature;onethatconsiders

twentiethandtwenty-firstcenturyexamplesofmadrigalsinadditiontothetraditional

Renaissanceform.

ThemadrigaloriginatedinItalyduringthefourteenthcentury,thoughthetermmadrigal

isalmostexclusivelyusedtodescribethesongformthatwasabundantinRenaissance

Italyinthesixteenthandseventeenthcenturies—whichbearslittleresemblancetothe

originalform—andthebriefbutprolificsurgeofEnglishmadrigalsfromthe1580sand

90s.Themadrigalistraditionallydefinedasbeingunaccompanied,scoredforbetween

twoandeightvoices,polyphonic instyle,andpublished insetscalled ‘books’ (largely

published as individual part-books). 1 As the original madrigalists (defined for the

purposesofthisthesisasthemadrigalcomposers)werelivingandworkinginItaly,the

majorityofmadrigalssetItalianpoems,withthebriefinterestofEnglishcomposersin

theformresultinginEnglishtextsalsobeingset.Theyaregenerallyamorous,satiricalor

allegorical,withafocusonexpressingtheemotionofthetext(anaspectdiscussedfurther

inChapter3).2

Theoriginoftheword‘madrigal’isunknown,howeverithasbeentheoriseditderives

from the word ‘mandra’ meaning ‘flock’. Therefore, the term ‘madrigal’ would have

originatedasapastoralsong.3However,ithasalsobeensuggestedthewordoriginated

from‘materialis’, implyingapoemwithoutparticularform,orfrom‘matrix’meaninga

songinthemothertongue.4Inthefourteenthcentury,‘madrigal’wasusedtodescribethe

1Stevens,DenisWilliam.“ChoralMusic.”InEncyclopædiaBritannica.EncyclopædiaBritannica,inc.,2015.https://www.britannica.com/art/choral-music/Madrigals-and-related-forms.2Bourne,Joyce,ed.“Madrigal.”InTheOxfordDictionaryofMusic.OxfordUniversityPress,2012.http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t237/e6399.3Roche,Jerome.TheMadrigal.London:HutchinsonUniversityLibrary,1972.4Fischer,Kurtvon,GianlucaD’Agostino,JamesHaar,AnthonyNewcomb,MassimoOssi,NigelFortune,JosephKerman,andJeromeRoche.“Madrigal.”InGroveMusicOnline.OxfordUniversityPress,2001.

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settingofpoemswithstanzasofeightorelevenlinestomusic.Thetermfelloutofuse

during the fifteenth century, and upon its return in the sixteenth century the new,

flourishingsongformborelittlerelationshiptoitsnomenclaturepredecessor.5

Thebodyofexistingliteratureonthemadrigalgenreismainlylimitedtodiscussionsof

Renaissancemadrigals;however,multiplecomposersfromthetwentiethcenturyhave

writtenworkstheyhaveexplicitlycalled‘madrigals’,includingAlbertRoussel(Madrigal

auxmuses1923),PaulHindemith(TwelveGermanMadrigals1958),ErnstKrenek(Three

Madrigals1991)andBohaslavMartinu(FiveCzechMadrigals1948).Clearly,restricting

thedefinitionofthemadrigaltoonlyacknowledgingtheRenaissanceformisinsufficient,

asitignoresasignificantoutputofworksfromthelasthundredyearsorso.

This thesis addresses this gap in the literature. It includes an investigation of

contemporary instances of madrigals, comparing their techniques to those used in

Renaissance madrigals and exploring the influence of the Renaissance works on

establishedcontemporarycomposers.Itincludesasurveyofthefollowingworks,ascase

studiesofcontemporarymadrigals:

• GeorgeCrumb’sMadrigalsBookI(1971)6

• Morten Lauridsen’s Madrigali: Six ‘Fire Songs’ on Italian Renaissance Poems

(1987)7

• GyörgyLigeti’sNonsenseMadrigals(1988–93)8

• GavinBryars’Secondbookofmadrigals(2000)9

• JoshuaShank’sColourMadrigals(2013)10

Inordertohighlightthevalidityandcontemporaryrelevanceofthemadrigalform,Ihave

composed two books of madrigals that incorporate aspects of both the Renaissance

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/subscriber/article/grove/music/40075?q=madrigal&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit.5Ibid.6Crumb,George.MadrigalsBookI.NewYork:C.F.PetersCorporation,1971.7Lauridsen,Morten.Madrigali:Six“FireSongs”onItalianRenaissancePoems.NewYork:SouthernMusic,1987.8Ligeti,György.NonsenseMadrigals.Mainz:Schott,1999.9Bryars,Gavin.SecondBookofMadrigals.London:SchottandCo.Ltd,2000.10Shank,Joshua.ColourMadrigals.GraphitePublishing,2013.www.graphitepublishing.com.

3

madrigalsandelementsofthecontemporarycasestudies.Thesemadrigalscanbeused

asamodeldemonstratingthefeaturesofacontemporarymadrigal,inwhichtheupdated

definitionofthemadrigalisclearlyrepresented.

Thisthesiswillexaminehoweachofthefivecontemporarycasestudiesrespondstoeach

oftheessentialcharacteristicsofthemadrigal,asdeterminedfromtheliterature.Itwill

alsodetermineiftherearedirectreferencestotheRenaissanceformofthemadrigal,or

otherhistoricalsongforms.Indoingso,itwillconsiderwhetherthecurrentdefinitionof

themadrigalneedstobeexpandedinordertoacknowledgewhatcomposersthemselves

clearlyconsidertobeexamplesofthesongform.Theseelementsarethenmodeledinmy

twobooksofmadrigals.Theseessentialelementsare:

1. Text:

1.1. Secularnature

1.2. Musicalexpressionoftext

2. Structure:

2.1. Throughcomposed

2.2. Organisedintobooks

3. Music:

3.1. Ensemblenature

3.2. Texture

4

1.1ContemporaryCaseStudiesThe case studies in this thesis can be grouped into two categories: those composers

whoseresponsecloselyreflectsthetraditionaldefinitionofthemadrigal,andthosewho

pushtheboundariesofthisdefinition.Botharelegitimateformsofcreativeresponsesto

thesongform,aswillbeseenlaterinthisthesis.

The traditionalists examined in this thesis are: Morten Lauridsen, Gavin Bryars and

JoshuaShank,whilethenon-traditionalistsareGeorgeCrumbandGyörgyLigeti.

LauridsenisanAmericancomposerandteacherbornin1943.Hehasbeenacomposition

professorattheUniversityofSouthernCaliforniaThorntonSchoolofMusicforoverforty

years.Lauridsenisquiteprolificintheareaofchoralandvocalmusic,withmanyofhis

sacred works being well known and frequently performed. 11 Lauridsen’s music,

primarilywrittenforvoice,is“tonal,lyrical,andcontrapuntal”,12adescriptorthatbears

manysimilaritieswiththeRenaissancemadrigals.

GavinBryarsisanEnglishcomposer,bornin1943.Hebeganasajazzbassistandstudied

withCyrilRamsey,GeorgeLinsteadandJohnCage.Hehasalsocollaboratedwithmany

musiciansincludingCorneliusCardewandJohnWhite.13Bryarswasanimportantfigure

among those British musicians who “rejected the complexity and seriousness of the

continentalavant-garde”.14

Bryars ismost famous forhis earlyworksTheSinkingof theTitanic (1969)and Jesus

BloodNeverFailedMeYet(1971),bothofwhichemployandexpanduponfoundobjects,

15onebeingthemusicbelievedtohavebeenplayedaboardtheTitanic,andtheother

being the recording of a tramp singing a short and simplemelody repeatedwith an

11Lauridsen,Morten.“MortenLauridsen.”AccessedJune9,2015.http://www.mortenlauridsen.net/MortenLauridsen.html.12Adams,Byron.“MortenLauridsen.”InGroveMusicOnline.OxfordUniversityPress,2015.http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002285141.13Bryars,Gavin.“GavinBryars,”2010.http://www.gavinbryars.com/info/biography.14Potter,Keith.“Bryars,Gavin.”InGroveMusicOnline.OxfordUniversityPress,2001.http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000004213.15Ibid.

5

orchestralaccompaniment.However,hehaswrittenextensivelyinavarietyofdifferent

formatsincludingthreefulllengthoperas,andfortheatreanddance.16Hiscompositional

stylemergestherepetitionoftheminimalistmovementwithbroadermelodicandlyrical

writing.Hismusicismodal,buta“chromaticallyrestlessmelancholy”isinherentinmost

ofhisworks.17

Hehaswrittenthreecompletebooksofmadrigals,andiscurrentlyworkingonthefourth,

fifthandsixthbooksconcurrently.Bryars’madrigalsbeganin1998asaprojectforthe

HilliardEnsemble.

Both of these composers havewrittenmadrigals based on textsused byRenaissance

madrigalcomposers:Lauridsen’sMadrigali:Six“Fire-Songs”onItalianRenaissancePoems

isasettingofsixItalianRenaissancepoemsthatfeaturefireandloveasacentraltheme,18

while Bryars haswritten hisSecondBook ofMadrigals (2001-2002) on the poemsof

Petrarch19–commonlyregardedtobethefavouritepoetoftheRenaissancemadrigalists.

Lauridsen’sFiresongswerewrittenfortheUniversityofSouthernCaliforniaChamber

Singers,andwerepublishedin1987,whileBryars’SecondBookofMadrigalswaswritten

forthesmallervocalensembletheTrioMedievalSextet(asextetcomprisingthethree

femalevocalistsoftheTrioMedieval,withthreeguesttenors)in2001.

ThethirdtraditionalistexaminedinthisthesisisJoshuaShank,whowasbornin1980in

Minnesota.Hehasadegreeinvocalmusiceducationandhasbuiltareputationasachoral

composerandconductor,collaboratingwithorganisationssuchasConspirare,theYoung

New Yorkers’ Chorus, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, the American Choral

Directors Association, The Esoterics (Seattle), the Minnesota All-State Choir, and the

16Bryars,“GavinBryars”17Potter,“GavinBryars”18Raybon,C.Leonard.“AnOldFormNewlyClothed:ExplorationandConductor’sAnalysesofMortenLauridsen’s‘Madrigali:Six“firesongs”onItalianRenaissancePoems.’”LouisianaStateUniversity,2003.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/2919/.19Bryars,Gavin.“SecondBookofMadrigals,”2010.http://www.gavinbryars.com/work/composition/second-book-madrigals.

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Lorelei Ensemble (Boston). 20 His music has been described as “evocative and

atmospheric…distillingasustainedmoodmostimpressively”.21

Shank’s Colour Madrigals (2013) began as a commission of a single piece from the

MinnesotaChoralArtists,butdevelopedintoalargersetofsix.Theyarebasedonthe

poems of John Keats. In a similar vein to the unifying theme of fire and love in the

LauridsenMadrigali,eachofShank’smadrigalsisbasedonadifferentcolour.Theyrange

fromaquiethymn(movementtwo)toa“barnstormingcloser”(movementsix).22

Twoof thecomposersconsidered inthisstudypushtheboundariesof thetraditional

definitionof themadrigal;CrumbandLigeti.Aswillbediscussed furtherbelow,both

CrumbandLigetiincludeelementsnothistoricallyconsideredtobecharacteristicofthe

madrigal, with Ligeti aligning himself with other historical song forms, and Crumb

choosingtouseaconsortensembleratherthananacapellavocalensemble.

GeorgeCrumbisanAmericancomposerandteacher,borninCharleston,SouthCarolina,

in1929.HestudiedwithRossLeeFinney,andisknownforhisavant-gardeandgestural

music, and his unique grasp of colours and sounds.23 He was greatly influenced by

Webern,andfrequentlyincorporatedmusicalquotationandpasticheintohisworks.24

Crumbhaswrittenfourbooksofmadrigals,eachofwhichisscoredforsolosopranoand

adifferentsmallensemble.Thisisanunusualinstrumentationformadrigals,whichare,

traditionally, almost exclusively a cappella pieces. While some madrigals from the

Renaissance periodwere performed as soloswith accompaniment, thiswas always a

“secondarychoice”.25

20Shank,Joshua.“SoundCloud:JoshuaShank,”2015.https://soundcloud.com/joshuashank.21Johnson,Lawrence,quotedbyShank,Joshua.In“GreatReview,”2008.http://dumbsaint.blogspot.com/2008/10/.22Shank,ColourMadrigals.23 Griffiths,Paul.“Crumb,George(Henry).”InTheOxfordCompaniontoMusic,editedbyAlisonLatham,n.d.http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e1745.24Steinitz,Richard.“Crumb,George.”InTheOxfordDictionaryofMusic,editedbyMichaelKennedy,2013.http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t237/e2604.25Fischeretal.“Madrigal”.

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Also influenced byWebern, Hungarian composer György Ligeti (1923 – 2006) is an

accomplished composerwhose “music resists all such categorisations by school” and

carefullybalancesaccessibilitywiththecomplexityappreciatedbythemorediscerning

listener.26ManyofhisearlierworkscouldnotbepublishedorperformedunderStalin’s

rule.27 He is known for what he called ‘micropolyphony’ – dense canons moving in

independenttimessoastocreateverticalclusters.

Ligeti’sNonsenseMadrigalswerecommissionedbytheKing’sSingersandfirstperformed

in1988,afterwhichLigetiaddedtwomoremovements.TheyareLigeti’sonlyvocalwork

setinEnglish,andarebasedonchildren’stexts,primarilythewritingsofLewisCarroll.28

Itisimportanttoconsiderexamplesofworksthatpushtheboundariesofthedefinition

ofthemadrigal,whentheircomposershaveexplicitlyusedthisterm.Aswillbediscussed

furtherbelow,thesenon-conformistsallowustoseetheextenttowhichthemadrigalhas

changedsincetheRenaissanceperiod,withthesecomposersmaintainingatleastsome

ofthespiritoftheoriginalmadrigalists,evenifthroughnootherconnectionthanthrough

theirchoicetonametheirworksmadrigal.

26Bauer,AmyMarie.“CompositionalProcessandParodyintheMusicofGyorgyLigeti.”YaleUniversity,1997.27Griffiths,Paul.“Ligeti,György(Sándor).”EditedbyAlisonLatham.TheOxfordCompaniontoMusic,n.d.http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e3985.28Malfatti,Dennis.“AnAnalysisofGyorgyLigeti’s‘NonsenseMadrigals.’”ProQuestDissertationsandTheses.LouisianaStateUniversityandAgricultural&MechanicalCollege,2004.http://ezproxy.library.usyd.edu.au/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/305170075?accountid=14757.

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1.2CompositionalprocessandobjectiveBy analysing contemporary case studies against both a historical definition of the

madrigal, as well as Renaissance examples of the madrigal, I am employing the

methodology of historical-comparison; defined as “qualitative research in which the

researcher examines data on events and conditions in the historical past and/or in

different societies”, 29 with “Historical-comparative researchers ask[ing]themselves

whetherawordorsocialcategoryhadthesamemeaninginthepastasinthepresent”as

meaningcanchangeovertime.30ThisconceptisexploredinChapters3–5,whichanalyse

thethreemainaspectsofthemadrigal.

In writing my own sets of madrigals, I aim to embody the very definition of the

contemporarymadrigal,allowingthemtoserveasamodelofthesongform.Thisincludes

a consideration of each of the characteristics established to be essential to the

contemporarymadrigal(asoutlinedabove) includingtextural,structural,andmusical

elements.

Asmadrigals are vocalworks,with text being an integral element, the compositional

process inevitably involves an element of hermeneutics: “the methodology of

interpretation,originallyoftexts,butbyextensionofmanyotherinterpretanda”31,with

eachofthetextschosenandsetbasedonmyinterpretationoftheirmeaning.Duetothe

importanceoftextandexpressingitsmeaningtotheRenaissancemadrigalists,aswellas

the contemporary case studies selected, my understanding and interpretation of the

poems I have chosen to set form a significant part of the creative process. This also

employsthemethodologyofDesign,whichpurportsthe“conceptionandrealisationof

newthings”asawayofknowing,withDesignhavingitsown“thingstoknow,waysof

knowingthem,andwaysoffindingoutaboutthem”.32

29Neuman,WLawrence.SocialResearchMethods:QualitativeandQuantitativeApproaches.SeventhEd.Essex:PearsonEducationLimited,2014.52.30Neuman,SocietalResearchMethods,527.31 Scholz,OliverR.“HermeneuticsA2-Wright,JamesD.BT-InternationalEncyclopediaoftheSocial&BehavioralSciences(SecondEdition),”778–84.Oxford:Elsevier,2015.https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.63101-X.32RoyalCollegeofArt,quotedbyCross,Nigel.In“DesignerlyWaysofKnowing.”DesignStudies3,no.4(1982):221–27.

9

Chapter2:LiteratureReview

2.1DefinitionofthemadrigalAs previously mentioned, the madrigal is a form of secular vocal composition that

originatedinItalyinthefourteenthcentury.Itdidnot,however,achieveitsheightuntil

thesixteenthcentury,atthehandsofcomposerssuchasArcadelt,Gabrieli,Gesualdoand

Monteverdi. 33 It was developed during the period of great cultural progress and

invention:TheRenaissance.

Typically,madrigalsareunaccompanied,scoredforbetweentwoandeightvoices,are

polyphonicinstyle,andpublishedinsetscalled‘books’.34TheyaremostlysunginItalian,

and are generally amorous, satirical or allegorical.35The focusofmadrigal composers

duringtheRenaissanceperiodwastoexpresstheemotionofthetext,throughtheuseof

techniquessuchaswordpaintingandexpressivegestures.36

Asstatedearlier,theoriginoftheword‘madrigal’isunknown,withthesixteenthcentury

iterationof themadrigal – the song formconsidered tobe ‘themadrigal’ –havingno

directrelationshiptotheoriginalfourteenthcenturyiteration.

The sixteenth century iteration of the madrigal was developed by Franco-Flemish

composersworkinginItaly,andistheorisedtohavedevelopedoutofthechanson37by

composersplacinganincreasedweightonthewordsandtheiremotionalexpression.38

ThecontextofsixteenthcenturyItaly,wasoneofahighlyliterateclassofartists,39and

33Fischeretal.“Madrigal”.34Ibid.35Bourne,“Madrigal”.36Fischeretal.“Madrigal”.37AchansonisasongsettoFrenchwords,writtenforseveralvoicesoronevoicewithaccompanimentthatdevelopedinFranceandnorthernItalyduringthefourteenthcentury,andwaspopularuntilthesixteenthcentury.Bourne,Joyce,ed.“Chanson.”InTheOxfordDictionaryofMusic.OxfordUniversityPress,2012.http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199578108.001.0001/acref-9780199578108-e-1761.38Dent,Edward.“TheMusicalFormoftheMadrigal.”MusicandLettersXI,no.3(July1,1930):230–40.https://doi.org/10.1093/ml/XI.3.230.39Ibid.

10

anincreasedliteracyamongthe“cultivatedclasses”.40Consequently,literaryexpression

withinvocalmusicbecameanimportantpartofthemadrigal,ascomposerswerewriting

for theentertainmentof these classes.41Thisnewsong formwas typicallywritten for

unaccompaniedvocalensembleofbetweentwoandeightvoices,“withsoloperformance

asecondarychoice”.42UnlikethepreviousdominantsongformoftheFrenchChanson,in

whichthetopvoicewasparamount,polyphonybecameanessentialfeatureoftheItalian

madrigalwitheachvoicebeingequallyimportant.43Thisbalancebetweenvoicesallowed

forbalancedcontrapuntalwriting,withtheequalityofpartsfurtherheightenedbythe

useofanensemble(i.e.onevoiceperpart)asopposedtoalargerchoir.44Itwasnotuntil

theseventeenthcenturythatcomposersbeganwritingmadrigalsforoneortwovoices

with a basso continuo accompaniment. 45 During the sixteenth century, composers

publishedbooksofmadrigals,ofteninseparatepart-books,andwithoptionalcontinuo

accompaniment.46

Thisgroupingofsetsofsongsintobooksisanintegralfeatureofmadrigals.Generally,

themadrigalswithinonebookwerewrittenforthesamenumberofvoices,andcontain

one ormore unifying elements. These can include setting texts by the same poet, or

coupleofpoets,withinthebook;aunifyingthemethroughout;oravarietyofunifying

musical elements such as “mode, final, system, clefs, voice combinations, and other

musical devices”. 47 These unifying features “could reinforce literary connections and

provide the structured underpinnings of entire collections”,48which, for themadrigal

composer,becamemoreimportantthantraditionalstructureswithinsongs.

40Einstein,Alfred,andTheodoreBaker.“TheMadrigal.”TheMusicalQuarterly10,no.4(October1,1924):475–84.https://doi.org/10.2307/738468.41Ibid.42Fischeretal.“Madrigal”.43Roche“TheMadrigal”.44Ibid.45Arnold,Denis,andEmmaWakelin.“Madrigal.”EditedbyAlisonLatham.TheOxfordCompaniontoMusic,2011.http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/view/10.1093/acref/9780199579037.001.0001/acref-9780199579037-e-4142.46Fischeretal.“Madrigal”.47Ossi,Massino.“MadrigalsinTheirPlace:IntertextualityinItalianMadrigalBooks.”InItalianMadrigalFestival.Amherst:UniversityofMassachusettsAmherst,2016.48Ibid.

11

TheearlymadrigalstyleisexemplifiedinthebooksofJacquesArcadelt,aFranco-Flemish

composerworkinginItalyandFranceduringthesixteenthcentury.49MuchofArcadelt’s

settings use imitative counterpoint; each voice is melodically independent, but they

combine using imitative techniques such as canons in order to create a harmonic

relationship. In order to effectively convey important lines of text, Arcadelt often set

openingphrasesandothercriticalphrasesinahomophonicdeclamatorychordalstyle.50

ThisblendingoftexturesisafeatureofmanyRenaissancemadrigals,andparallelsthe

blendingofgravityandcharmusedbymanymadrigalpoets.51Arcadelt’smadrigalsalso

exemplifytheformofRenaissancemadrigals,inthatcomposerswereboundbytheform

ofthechosentext.52

49Haar,James,andLetitiaGlozer.“Arcadelt,Jacques.”InGroveMusicOnline.OxfordUniversityPress,n.d.http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/01165.50Fischeretal.“Madrigal”.51Ibid.52Ibid.

12

2.2TextAstexturalexpressionandmeaningwerecentraltothemadrigal,thechoiceofpoetryto

setwasanimportantpartofthemadrigalcomposer’sprocess.Whereaspreviousvocal

formshadplacedmoreemphasisonthemusicthanthetexts,madrigalcomposersstrived

for a balance between the poetry and the music. 53 The madrigal’s antecedent, the

frottola,54setpoemsofmanystanzas,butwassupersededbyapreferenceforpoemsofa

singlestanzawithafreerhymescheme.55Fortunatelyforcomposers,therewasaclimate

ofliteraryexperimentationinItalyatthistime.56Thepreferredpoeticformofmadrigal

composerswasthe‘canzonestanza’,withthepoetryofFrancescoPetrarchremaininga

strongfavouritethroughoutthesixteenthcentury.57Theideal‘canzonestanza’featured

song-likepoetry, freealternation in lengthof line, freedomof rhymes,brevityandan

epigrammatic point.58 The free structure of these Petrarchan poems favoured by the

madrigalcomposersmeanttheywerenolongerboundbyanysetform,andinparticular,

couldmoveawayfromlarge-scalerepetition.Assuch,composersenjoyedthefreedomof

nolarge-scalestructures,withmostmadrigalsbeingthroughcomposed,allowingthem

tobemoreartisticintheirapproachtostructure.59

ThepoetryofPetrarchwassetbymanymadrigal composers, ashewas “able togive

expressiontothemostintimate,mostdelicateandthemostsublimeimpulsesofhissoul”

and could put into words “the discordance of his own feelings”. 60 Alfred Einstein

describes Petrarch’s poetry as both lyric and ‘contrapuntal’, referring to the layersof

meaning and duality of emotions often present in Petrarch’s work. He describes the

fluctuationbetweentwocontrastingideasormoodsasa‘hovering’effect–aneffectthat

lendsitselfwelltopolyphony.61Aspolyphonyisanessentialmusicalcomponentofthe

53Einstein,A.TheItalianMadrigal.Vol.1,EditedbyA.H.Krappe,R.Sessions,andW.O.Strunk.PrincetonUniversityPress,1949.54Asecularchoralsongformwherethesamemusicwassungforeachverse,andthemelodywasalmostalwaysinthetopvoicepart.Bourne,Joyce,ed.“Frottola.”InTheOxfordDictionaryofMusic.OxfordUniversityPress,2012.http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t237/e4020.55Fenlon,Iain,andJamesHaar.TheItalianMadrigalintheEarlySixteenthCentury:SourcesandInterpretation.Cambridge;NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,1988.13.56Ibid.,13.57Ibid.,29.58Ibid.,29.59Fisheretal.“Madrigal”.60Einstein,ItalianMadrigal,190.61Ibid.,190.

13

madrigal, it is important the text does not compete with this musical aspect. Poetic

techniquessuchasoxymoronandantitheticmotifs,bothformsofduality,aresuitablefor

madrigal settings as they lend themselves towards polyphony well. 62 Additionally, a

dualityofmeaningsoremotionsinthetextbecameacommonfeatureofthepoetryset

bymadrigalcomposersforthesamereason.63

In an example of text setting by aRenaissancemadrigalist,we have LucaMarenzio’s

“Dolorosimartir,fieritormenti”64,fromlprimolibrodemadrigalia5voci.Thetextand

translationisgivenbelow:65

Dolorosimartir,fieritormenti

Duriceppi,empilacci,aspre

catene,

Ov’iolanotte,igiorni,oree

momenti,

Miseropiangoilmioperduto

bene

Tristevoci,querele,urlielamenti,

Lagrimespesseesempiternepene

Sonilmiociboelaquietecara

Dellamiavitaoltr’ogniassenzio

amara.

Bitteragonies,fiercetorments,

harshtraps,cruelsnares,rasping

chains,

throughnightandday,atallhours

andeverymoment

Ilamentmylostlovewretchedly

Sadvoices,complaints,howlingsand

wailings,

nourishme,andtheserenetranquility

tearsfrequently-shedandnever-

endingmisery

ofmylifeisbittertasting.

Thereisacleardualityinthistext,withthenarrator’semotionalpainbeingdescribedin

imageryofphysicaltorment.Inthemusic,Marenzioutilisesdissonanceexpertlyinorder

toconveythepainofthenarrator.Heuseslongphrasespassedbetweeneachmemberof

theensemble,withdrawn-outdissonances, inordertocreatean imageofchains.The

senseof torment is continued throughout theopeningsection, as there isno senseof

62Ibid.,190.63Ibid.,190.64Marenzio,Luca.DolorosiMartir’,FieriTormenti.EditedbyAllenGarvin,(1580)2015.http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/f/fa/09-dolorosi_martir---0-score.pdf.65Translationfrom:Morton,Joelle.“DefinitelytheOperaMarenzio-PrimoLibroDiMadrigali:LaCompagniaDelMadrigaleCDReview.”DefinitelytheOpera,2014.https://definitelytheopera.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/marenzioprimolibro/.

14

comingtorestinaplacetheearexpectsuntilthehomophonicpassageinbar18(Figure

1).Thewordpaintingon ‘tristevoci’ (‘sadvoices’) isusedamongall thevoices,both

creating both a literal representation of sad voices and a musical representation of

wailingthroughtheuseofascendingleapsanddescendingsteps(Figure2).

Figure1:Marenzio,Dolorosimartir'-Bar13–18

Figure2:Marenzio,Dolorosimartir'–Bar26–29

From the1550s, themadrigal genrebegan to change rapidly.Awider choiceof texts

became available to composers; however, Petrarch was still a favourite. 66 It became

fashionable to set larger, cyclic works, in which every stanza was given a different

treatment. Thus the madrigals remained through-composed, with a free structure,

66Fischeretal.“Madrigal”.

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15

howevercomposersoftenusedunifyingtonalandthematicelements.67Itwasduringthe

second half of the sixteenth century that the madrigal arrived in England. 68 Italian

madrigalsbegantobepublishedwithtranslatedtexts,asthegenrewaspopularamong

amateurmusicians.69Englishcomposersbegantowrite theirownmadrigals,basedon

contemporaryEnglishpoetry,inaround1588.70Howeverthegenrewasshort-lived,and

the great flourish of new English madrigalswas confined to a period of twenty-five

years.71

Therecurringelementsofwhatisconsideredtobeparamounttothemadrigalcanbe

reducedtothefollowing,asbrieflyoutlinedintheintroduction:

1. Text:

1.1. Thesecularnatureofthetextsused

1.2. Theimportanceofexpressingtheemotionandmeaninginthetextthrough

themusic,withanemphasisonthebalancebetweentextandmusic(including

adualityofmeaningsandmadrigalisms)

2. Structure/books:

2.1. Throughcomposedwithalackoflarge-scaleformalstructure,duetothe

choiceofamorefreestyleofpoetry

2.2. Thegroupingintobooks,generallygroupedbythematiccontent,narrative,

ortextand/orpoet72

3. Music:

3.1. The ensemble nature of the madrigal, with most madrigals being

unaccompanied

3.2. Abalanceandequalityofvoices,oftenpresentedasapolyphonictexture

67Ibid.68ArnoldandWakelin,“Madrigal”.69Ibid.70Fellowes,EdmundH.TheEnglishMadrigalComposers.SecondEdi.London:OxfordUniversityPress,1948.71Ibid.72Haar,James.“SomeSixteenth-Century‘Thematic’MadrigalAnthologies.”InMusicintheTheater,Church,andVilla:EssaysinHonorofRobertLamarWeaverandNormaWrightWeaver,editedbySusanParisi,ErnestHarriss,andCalvinM.Bower,324.DetroitMonographsinMusicology/StudiesinMusic.Warren:HarmonieParkPress,2000.

16

Thedefinitionarisingfromtheliteraturefallsshortinmanyways,withsourcesreferring

almostexclusivelytothesixteenthcenturyversionofthemadrigal.Thesesources,such

as the widely considered authoritative Grove’s Dictionary of Music and The Oxford

CompaniontoMusic,failtoacknowledgetheresurgenceofthegenreduringthetwentieth

andtwenty-firstcenturies,wherecomposerssuchasCrumb,Ligeti,Shank,andBryars,

amongmanyothers,haveallproducedwhattheyexplicitlycallmadrigals.Additionally,

thesesourcesdonotconsiderthosemodernworksthatcouldbedescribedasmadrigals

without being explicitly named as such. As there are many composers producing

madrigals both throughout the twentieth century and to this day, it is imperative an

updateddefinition,incorporatingthesemodernworks,bedeveloped.Furthermore,the

creationofmyownbooksofmadrigalsunderlinesthatthishistoricalformhassignificant

validityandrelevancetothecontemporaryworld,withthehistoricaldefinitionshaping

thisresurgence.

17

2.3TwentiethcenturyexamplesofmadrigalsandtheirstudyPiotrGrella-Mozejkohaswrittenathesiswithasimilarapproachtomyown,analysing

thefourbooksofmadrigalswrittenbyCrumbandcomparingthemtotheRenaissance

madrigal.73EachofCrumb’sfourbooksiswrittenforasolosopranoandadifferentsmall

ensemble.Thisisanimmediatedifferencetothetraditionalvocalensemblemadrigalthat

theauthorfailstomention.Grella-Mozejkodevelopshisowndefinitionofamadrigal:

• Renaissancemadrigalswere secular and included ‘popular’ themes such as

nature,love,everydaylifeanddeath

• Themusic is representative of every aspect of the text, and conveyed the

emotionsofthecomposer

• Theuseofunusualtextsallowedformusicalexperimentation,suchastheuse

ofchromaticisms,theintroductionofmajor-minortonality,andnewtimbrel

effects

• Cyclesofmadrigalswerepublishedinbooks,and

• Madrigalswerenotconfinedtoanysetstructure.

Inhisdefinition,Grella-MozejkofailstoconsiderthetexturalelementsoftheRenaissance

madrigal;elementsthatarearguablythemostimportantfeatureofthemadrigal,andare

perhaps where Crumb diverges from the historical definition. Upon a perfunctory

listening,itwouldbeeasytomistakeCrumb’smadrigalsasbelongingtothegenreofthe

madrigalinnameonly:asthelonesinger,itwouldbeeasytoassumethesopranoisthe

dominantpartineachofCrumb’sbooks,anditisnecessaryforthistobethecaseifthe

composer was indeed intending to emphasize the text, as Grella-Mozejko suggests.

However, upon further analysis, a balance between the instruments and the soprano

becomesapparent,withthe instrumental linesworkingtoexpressthemeaningof the

text (this isdiscussed further inChapters3and5).Whilehis style remainsdistinctly

modern,CrumbmaintainsthespiritoftheRenaissancemadrigalists;apointthatwillbe

discussed further below. The incomplete definition provided by Grella-Mozejko

emphasizestheshortcomingsofthedefinitionofthemadrigal,particularlyasafocuson

73Grella-Mozejko,Piotr.“GeorgeCrumbMadrigals:ComposerinaMagicTheatre.”TheAlbertaNewMusicandArtsReviewIII/IV,no.4/5(2001):65–76.http://mozejko.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/05_Grella-Mozejko-ANMAR-Crumb.pdf.

18

themusicoftheRenaissanceperiod,andhighlightstheneedforanupdated,andbroader,

definition.

Another important set of modern madrigals is the Nonsense Madrigals by Ligeti. A

doctoralthesis,byDennisMalfatti,analysesthefeaturesofthesemadrigalsandsuggests

approaches to their performance.74 Malfatti briefly looks at the relationship between

Ligeti’s work and the Renaissance song form, however his focus ismore descriptive,

rather than critical. For example,Malfatti discusses how Ligeti parodies earlier song

formsinhismadrigals.However,itiscriticalthatmanyofthehistoricalsongformsLigeti

parodiesarethoseotherthanRenaissancemadrigals,suchasthefourteenthcenturyArs

Novamotet parodied in the first movement. This separates Ligeti’s work from the

traditional madrigal, as he incorporates other historical genres. Additionally, Ligeti’s

vocalsettingofbirdsoundscanbeseenasaparodyof thesixteenthcenturyParisian

chanson,similar toClément Janequin'suseofbirdsounds inhisLeChantdesoyseaux.

Thisagainistheparodyingofahistoricalsongformotherthanthemadrigal.

MalfattialsodrawscomparisonsbetweenLigeti’sworkandRenaissancecomposers,in

particular to the work of Johannes Ockeghem, of whom Ligeti was a self-professed

admirer. In particular, Malfatti draws parallels between the two composers’ use of

canons,andextensionofthebassrange.HealsolikensLigeti’suseofwordpaintingon

theword‘running’toasimilarapproachtothesamewordusedbycomposerThomas

WeelkesinhismadrigalAsVestaWas.

While Malfatti does draw comparisons between Ligeti’s Nonsense Madrigals and

Renaissancemadrigals,hefailstoprovideastrongdefinitionofamadrigal,orsuggest

whyLigetimayhavechosentoreferencethisparticulargenreinthenamingoftheset.

ThisoversightisparticularlyglaringasLigetiparodiesmanyhistoricalsong-formsother

thanthemadrigalinhiswork,butyethaschosentosingleoutonegenreinthetitle.This

furtherheightens theneed toproduceadefinitionof themadrigal that acknowledges

modern incarnations, especially in cases where modern composers have explicitly

referredtotheirpiecesasmadrigals.However,itcouldbearguedLigeti’schoicetocall

74Malfatti.2004.“AnalysisofLigeti”.

19

thisset‘madrigal’isverydeliberate,especiallyashehaspublishedtheminabookwitha

clear textual and thematic link between the songs; and his choice of a small, all-male

ensemblefurthersstrengthenstheconnectiontoRenaissancemadrigals.

The need for a broader definition is again evident in a doctoral thesis by C. Leonard

Raybon,75whichprovidesadetailedanalysisofLauridsen’sMadrigali:Six‘firesongs’on

Italian Renaissance poems, including performance considerations. Although Raybon

draws comparisons between Renaissance techniques and the Fire songs, his

consideration of the composer’s obvious associationwithRenaissancemadrigals, and

indeed the composer’s own categorisation of his work as madrigals themselves, is

perfunctory at best. He describes this use of Renaissance techniques and deliberate

referencetothemadrigalsofthisperiodasnomorethanhomage,ratherthanthepieces

themselves being representative of the madrigal song form, albeit the reincarnated,

contemporaryversionofthemadrigal.Lauridsen’sFiresongsare,however,bothhomage

andworkwithinthedefinitionofthemadrigalitself,mostevidentthroughhischoiceto

groupthemintoabookwithaunifyingtheme,hisconsistentmethodofselectingtextsto

set,andindeedtheexpressionofthetext.Theseelementswillbediscussedindetailin

Chapters3and4.

75Raybon,“Oldformnewlyclothed”.

20

2.4TheneedforanupdateddefinitionAn examination of the literature is useful in developing a definition of themadrigal,

howeveritisparticularlyevidentthatahistoricaldefinitionhasmanyshortcomings.This

narrowdefinitionexcludesthemanyincarnationsofthemadrigalthathaveappearedin

morerecenttimes,failingtoacknowledgehowthesemodernmanifestationsfitwithin

thegenre,andindeedhowtheypushtheboundariesofthegenreinordertositwithin

thecontemporarymusicalworld.LigetiandCrumbbothapproachthegenreinamore

openand loosemanner, extending theirworksbeyond thehistoricaldefinitionof the

madrigal.Thissuggeststheneedfornotonlyanupdated,butamulti-layereddefinition

thatallowsforcontemporarycomposerstousethehistoricalsongformasaspringboard

torespondtothegenreinauniquelymodernway.Itisclearthereistheneedforfurther

researchinthisarea,inordertodevelopamoreappropriatedefinition.

21

Chapter3:Text

As discussed in the introduction, there are two important characteristics of the

Renaissancemadrigalrelatingtotext:

1. Thesecularnatureofthetextsused;and

2. Theimportanceofexpressingtheemotionandmeaninginthetextthroughthe

music(includingadualityofmeaningsandmadrigalisms),withanemphasis

onthebalancebetweentextandmusic.

This chapter will investigate how the contemporary case studies respond to these

characteristics.

3.1SeculartextPerhapstheclearestidentifyingfeatureofthemadrigalisthesecularnatureofitstext.76

Thiswasimportantindistinguishingbetweenmadrigals,whichwereperformedinthe

saloonsoftheeducatedupperclasses,andthesacredmusicthatlivedinthechurches

and was performed by much larger ensembles. Generally, the texts of Renaissance

madrigals were amorous, satirical or allegorical. 77 The contemporary case studies

examinedinthisthesisarenoexception.

Themostpervasivethemepresentinthemadrigal(bothRenaissanceandcontemporary)

is‘éros’–loveofasexualpassion,desire,orloveforone78–withBryars,Lauridsenand

Crumb all exploring this concept. On the other hand, Ligeti’s texts are all somewhat

absurdandnonsensical(asthetitleNonsenseMadrigalswouldsuggest),whileShank’s

exploretheideaofmythsandfairytales.

76Whilemadrigalspiritualedidexistduringthesixteenthcentury,theywerebyfarintheminoritycomparedtothesecularmadrigal.TheyarenotgenerallyconsideredbytheliteratureaspartofthemadrigaloutputoftheRenaissanceperiod,andthereforeareunlikelytohavebeenconsideredbycomposersofthetwentiethandtwenty-firstcentury.Thus,theyaredeemedoutsidethescopeofthisstudy.Additionally,theystillstoodseparatelytothemusicofthechurchinthattheysetspiritualpoems,ratherthansacredtexts.77 Bourne, “Madrigal”. 78Liddell,HenryGeorge,RobertScott,RoderickMcKenzie,andSirHenryStuartJones.“Éros.”InAGreek-EnglishLexicon.ClarendonPress,1940.http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3De%29%2Frws.

22

Both Bryars and Lauridsen have drawn on Italian texts prevalent in the Renaissance

period,manyofwhichwere setbyRenaissancemadrigal composers.Bryarsuses the

poetryofPetrarch,thefavouredpoetofthesecomposers,andLauridsenusesavarietyof

textsthatwereoriginallyusedinRenaissancemadrigals,allincludingimagesoffireand

thethemeoflove(thisideaofrecurringfireimageryisdiscussedfurtherinChapter4.2).

BryarshimselfisanadmireroftheRenaissancemadrigals,andinwritinghisownbooks

“sought…toworkwithinthespiritandaestheticofthosefromtheItalianRenaissance”.79

ByutilisingthetextofPetrarch–drawnfromPetrarchLyricPoems:TheRimeSparseand

otherlyrics80–Bryarsisstrengtheningtheconnectionbetweenhisbookofmadrigalsand

Renaissancemadrigalists.

Bycontrast,LigetilinkshimselftotheVictorianera,choosingtosetchildren’sliterature

from this period, setting the words of Lewis Carroll, William Brightly Rands and Dr

HeinrichHoffman.Thesewordsrangeincharacterfrom“utternonsense…tomoralizing

admonishment”,81andareallsecular.PerhapsthemostnonsensicalmovementinLigeti’s

bookismovementIII,wherethelettersofthealphabetarewrittenoutphoneticallyand

stretchedoutandoverlappedsuchthatanysenseoffamiliarityislost(Figure3).This

technique of deconstruction is distinctly modernist, with other twentieth century

composers incorporating similar techniques. For example, fellow modernist Luciano

Berio,usesthetechniqueofdeconstructingwordsintosyllablesinhisSequenzaIIIfor

solosoprano(Figure4)82.

79 Bryars,Gavin.“OnMadrigals-WrittenforAktuel,”2010.http://www.gavinbryars.com/work/writing/occasional-writings/madrigals-written-aktuel.80Bryars,SecondBook.81Malfatti,“AnalysisofLigeti”,21.82Berio,Luciano.SequenzaIII:PerVoceFemminile.London:UniversalEdition,1968.

23

Figure3:LigetiIII.Opening

24

Figure4:Berio,SequenzaIII

25

TheCrumbmadrigalsexploresimilarthemestothoseoftheRenaissance–romanticlove,

deathandnature-withrecurringwaterimagerythroughout.Thetextsaredrawnfrom

thepoemsofFredricGarciaLorca,whichfeaturesurrealistimages.Forexample,thethird

madrigalinCrumb’sfirstbookusesthetext‘Losmuertosllevanalasdomusgo’(‘thedead

wearmossywings’),whichhasadream-likequality.

Incontrast,theShankmadrigalsusethepoemsofJohnKeats,eachfeaturingadifferent

colour.MostofthesetextsrefertotheGreekmuses,butastheyareusedfortheircultural

significanceratherthanassongsofworshipthesemadrigalscanstillbeconsideredtobe

secular, thus reflecting the secular nature of the Renaissance madrigal. In fact, in

literature “the earliest poets in their invocation of theMuse orMuseswere perfectly

sincere,and…theyactuallybelievedintheirbeinginspiredbythegoddesses;butinlater

timesamongtheGreeksandtheRomans,aswellasinourowndays,theinvocationofthe

Musesisamereformalimitationoftheearlypoets.”83

My two booksofmadrigals both reflect this characteristic,with all of the texts being

secular.Myfirstbook,MotionMadrigals,featurestextswithimagesofmotion,whilethe

secondbook,MadrigalsofNature, featuresimagesofnature,oftencontrastedwiththe

humancondition.

Partofwhatdrewmetowritingmadrigalswastherichnessofthetextsuponwhichthey

aretraditionallybased,astheyaregenerallylayeredwithmeaningandfeaturebeautiful

imagesthatareexpressedskilfullybymadrigalists.IhaveusedmultiplepoemsbySara

Teasdale(discussedfurtherinChapter4.2)asherthemes,evocativeimageryandlayers

ofmeaninglendthemselvesextremelywelltothegenreofmadrigal.Asacomposerof

vocalmusic,thetextisalwaysanessentialcomponentofeverypiece.Isharetheidealof

both Renaissance and contemporarymadrigalists to express themeaning of the text

throughthemusic.

83Smith,William,andJohnMurray.“Musae.”InADictionaryofGreekandRomanBiographyandMythology.SpottiswoodeandCo.,1873.http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=musae-bio-1.

26

Throughthishistorical-comparativeanalysis,itbecomesapparentthesecularnatureof

the madrigal remains valid for the contemporary madrigal, as it did during the

Renaissanceperiod.

27

3.2ExpressionofthemeaningofthetextTheRenaissancemadrigalssawagrowingemphasisontheexpressionof theemotion

andmeaningofthetext,withthebalancebetweentextandmusicbecomingequal.84Each

of the contemporarymadrigalistshasput careful thought into their expressionof the

meaningofthechosentext,withthewordsformingamajorcomponentofthepieces.This

balance between text and music mirrors the treatment of text by the Renaissance

composers.

OneofthecommonfeaturesoftheRenaissancemadrigalsconcerningtextwasaduality

ofmeanings.Thisdualityoftenmanifestsasa“hoveringeffect”:a fluctuationbetween

two contrasting ideas, thoughts, or feelings. 85 For example, Gesualdo’s Moro Lasso

featuresacontradictionofideasacrossjusttwolinesoftext:

Chidarvitamipuò,

Ahi,midàmorte!

She who could give me life,

Alas,givesmedeath

A similar “hovering effect” is used by Monteverdi in his Sestina which presents the

contradictoryideaofthesunatnight,andthemoonduringtheday:

Daràlanotteilsollumeallaterra

SplenderàCintiaildi

Thesunwilllighttheearthbynight

andthemoonbyday

Thisdualityofmeanings,contradictionsandthe“hoveringeffect”canallbeseeninthe

moremodernexamples,perhapsmostclearlyinShank’sColourMadrigals.

Shank's first colour madrigal, “Serpents in red roses hissing”, is the very epitome of

duality,being in the composer’sownwordsan “exercise indichotomy”,86and thetext

appropriatelydrawnfromJohnKeats’ASongofOpposites.Forexample,theoxymoron

“Bothtogethersaneandmad”inbars34–36(Figure5).

84Fischeretal.“Madrigal”.85Einstein,ItalianMadrigal,190.86Shank,ColourMadrigals.

28

Figure5:ShankI.

Thisdualityofmeaningsisfurtherrepresentedbythefrequentshiftingbetweenmajor

andminortonalities,whichcanbeseeninbars37–42whichshiftsfromAmajortoB

minor(Figure6).

Figure6:ShankI.

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29

A similar shifting between tonalities was used by Monteverdi in his Dolcissimo

Uscignolo.87Inbars20–22,heusesbothDmajorandDminor(Figure7).Thisshiftingof

tonalitiesmirrorsthedualityofthetext,whichcontraststhefreedomofthebirdwiththe

duty-boundman.

Figure7:Monteverdi,DolcissimoUscignolo

Shankisalsoveryadeptatincorporatingwordpainting,atechniquesofrequentlyused

byRenaissancemadrigalistsitearnedthenamemadrigalisms.88Forexample,Monteverdi

oftenusedthistechnique,ascanbeseeninhisDolcissimoUscignolo,bars29–31.Here

thetextisdescribingwingsandflying(‘enonhocometudavolarale’;‘nordoIhavewings

to fly like you’). Monteverdi presents us with a series of alternating notes in rising

passagestoinvoketheimageofwingsflappingandrisingintotheair(Figure8).

87Monteverdi,Claudio.DolcissimoUscignolo.EditedbyPeterRottländer,(1638)2013.http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/0/02/Mont-dol-voc.pdf.88Fischeretal.“Madrigal”.

30

Figure8:Monteverdi,DolcissimoUscignolo

Shankusesword-paintingthroughouthismadrigals,noticeablyinthethirdmovement

whichfinisheswiththetext“whichgentlyfadesawayintotheforestdim”.Thetext“into

theforestdim”isrepeatedthreetimes,eachtimedecreasingindynamics,untilthefinal

word, which is stretched out and closes to the “m”, and finally leaves only one part

continuingonalone,inordertoimitatefadingaway(Figure9).

Shank also uses word painting in the final movement, “Orange mounts of more soft

ascent”.Inbars35–38,themusicascendsinsympathywiththetext“ascentthanlazar

stairs”(Figure10).

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Figure10:ShankVI.

Madrigalsfrequentlycontainasharp“point”tofinalcouplet,89oran“epigrammaticturn

totheclosingline”.90ThiscanbeseeninShank’sthirdColourMadrigal,“Purple-Stainèd

Mouth”,whichbeginswiththefirsteightlinesofthetextdescribingwinewithpositive

images,(e.g.“sunburntmirth”),butthelasttwolinessharplyturntorevealthe“imageof

someonewhoisheartbrokentakingrefugeinabottleofwine”:91

ThatImightdrinkandleavetheworldunseen,

Andwiththeefadeawayintotheforestdim

I have explored a similar sharp turn in mood in the madrigal “Beware”, in order to

demonstratetheideaofthe“epigrammaticpoint”(textgivenbelow).Eachofthestanzas

inthispoembeginwitharatherunpleasantimage,ofaninsectbeingcrushedinsome

waybythenarrator.Thefinallineofeachstanzausesshockingmetaphors,comparinga

deadmothtoa“bleedinghumanheart”andacrushedwormwitha“dyinghumansoul”,

inordertoconveytheideathatalllifeispreciousandahumanlifeisworthnomorethan

a small insect, even those traditionally considered to be pests. I have reflected these

changesinthetextinthemusic:bars41–45(“Ifoundableedinghumanheart”)seesthe

89Einstein,ItalianMadrigal,209-210.90EinsteinandBaker,“Madrigal”.91Shank,ColourMadrigals.

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firstinstanceofbothhomophonyandlouddynamicsinthissong,withalloftheprevious

materialbeingratherstaticandthin(Figure11cf.Figure12).

Iclosedmyhandsuponamoth

AndwhenIdrewmyhandsapart,

Insteadofdusty,brokenwings

Ifoundableedinghumanheart

Icrushedmyfootuponaworm

Thathadmygardenforitsgoal,

ButwhenIdrewmyfootaside

Ifoundadyinghumansoul.

PoembyDoraSigersonShorter

Figure11:“Beware”

Asimilarchangeinfeelingoccursattheendofthemadrigalforthefinallineoftext,which

seesbothachangetoaslowertempoandareturntoathinnertextureafteraperiodof

loud,six-partpolyphony(Figure13cf.Figure14).

34

Figure12:“Beware”

Figure13:“Beware”-(crotchet=100)

35

Figure14:“Beware”

Throughout his madrigals, Crumb endeavours to represent the meaning of the text.

CrumbheldafascinationwithSpanishpoetGarciaLorcathroughouthiscompositional

career, settingmany of his poems intowhat has become known as his “Lorca cycle”,

spanningfromNightMusic(1963),toTheGhostsofAlhambra(2008);andincludingall

four of his books of madrigals. Scholars including Amy Fleming (quoted below) and

Grella-Możejkoagreeonhisabilitytoexpressthemeaningofthetext:

Ineachoftheseareas—harmonic,timbral,textural,andtheatrical—Crumbuses

hismusicasameanstoilluminatethemeaningofLorca’spoetry”92and“Crumb’s

purposeistoservethetextwithhismusic.93

Forexample,takeBook1,MovementII:“Nopiensanenlalluvia”(Theydonotthinkof

therain,andthey’vefallenasleep).Thislineistakenfromthepoem“Casidadelosramos”

(Casidaofthebranches);areflectionontheinevitabilityofdeath.Thisshortfragmentof

textcontainsadualityofmeaning,whichpresentstheideaoftherainasametaphorfor

death.When taken at face value, this is a simple poem about nature.However,when

lookedatmoreclosely,thislinerepresents“theblissfulignoranceofthebranches,which,

92 Fleming,AmyL.“Harmony,Timbre,andPoeticMeaningintheLorcaCyclesofGeorgeCrumb.”ThePennsylvaniaStateUniversity,2012.https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/14095.3.93Ibid.,4.

36

despitetheirimpendingdoom,donotletthisstopthemfrombeinghappy”94,wherethe

rainrepresentsdeath.

NopiensanenlaLluvia,

ysehandormido

Theydonotthinkoftherain,

andthey’vefallenasleep

Thismeaningofthetextisreflectedinthemusicinanumberofways.Forexample,the

opening“Cristalino”section(Figure15),whichrecursataboutthreequartersoftheway

through,createsimagesofthesplashingofdropsofwater,bybeginningwithasforzando

andsubitopianissimomarking,andclosingimmediatelytothe‘nn’.Thecloseharmonies

during this section create an unsettling atmosphere, our first clue the rain may be

representativeofmorethanitfirstappears.

The metronomic semiquavers in the double bass in the “Rain-death music” section

(Figure15),whichjumpslargeintervals,conjurestheimageofrain.Themetaphorofrain

as death throughout this section is expressed through the dissonant and unsettling

harmoniclanguagebasedaroundacompoundsemitone(A’s,BflatsandBnaturals)and

atritone(EandBflat).

Theatmosphereofwindandrainisfurtherexpressedthroughthe“pointillisticstyle”95

of Crumb’swriting, including the use of extended techniques such as the vibraphone

playing“withfingernails”,thegraphicallynotated“windsounds”inthesoprano,andthe

ponticelloplayinginthedoublebass.

It iswiththisexpressionof thetext thatCrumbmoststronglyalignshimselfwiththe

Renaissancemadrigalists,alwaysusingthemusicasameansoftexturalexpressionand

awaytoportraythemeaningandemotionofthetext.

94Ibid.,35.95Ibid.

37

Figure15:CrumbII.

38

Ihavealsousedmusictorepresentanaturalphenomenondescribedinthetextin“The

LeavesDropDown”,usingdescendingphrasesofsemi-staccatonotes,separatedbyrests,

and layered in a polyphonicmanner to represent the phenomenon of autumn leaves

droppingfromtreebranchesinarandomandchaoticfashion(Figure16).

Figure16:“TheLeavesDropDown”

TheexpressivenatureofLigeti’sworkcanbeseeninthefirstofhisNonsenseMadrigals,

“TwoDreamsandalittlebat”–atextthatis,asthetitlesuggests,dream-likeinitsnature.

Inthismovement,twotextsofWilliamBrightly-Randsaresungsimultaneously,andina

polyphonicmanner(discussedfurtherinChapter5.2):thealtossing“TheDreamofaGirl

WhoLivedatSevenOaks”,andthebaritonessing“TheDreamofaBoyWhoLivedatNine-

Elms”.Thedoublelayeringofthetextsisrepresentedinthedoublelayeringofthetime

signatures(Figure17).Thealtosaresinginginthetriplemetre,againstthebaritonesin

thequadruplemetre.Athirdtextispresentedinthetenor–LewisCarroll’sparodyof

“Twinkle,twinklelittlestar”settothefamiliarmelody.Thismelodydoesnotfitsquarely

39

intoeitherofthemetresandthusactsasthefulcrumaroundwhichboththealtosand

baritonesarecentred.96

Figure17:LigetiI.Opening

Ligeti breaks away from the historical madrigal as he does not always express the

meaningofthetext,ascanbeseeninthethirdmovement“TheAlphabet”.Thismovement

96 Malfatti, “Analysis of Ligeti”.

40

doesnotuseapoem,oranydiscerniblewordsforthatmatter,butinsteadusestheletters

ofthealphabet(writtenoutphonetically)asits‘text’.Aslettersdonotinherentlyhave

meaning,Ligetiisusingthemhereasarepresentationofnonsense(discussedfurtherin

Chapter4),movingawayfromtheRenaissanceidealofexpressionoftextbeingamajor

component of the music. For this reason, among others, Ligeti’s madrigals push the

boundariesofwhatconstitutesamadrigal.

Followingthehistoricaltradition,Lauridsenhaschosentextswithadualityofmeaning,

eachfeaturingfireasametaphorforunrequitedlove.97Considertheopeningmovement,

withthetextdrawnfromamadrigalwrittenbyHenricusSchaffen(poetunknown).Here,

thetextistalkingaboutaspurnedloverwhohopestoproveheisworthyoflove,with

thenarrator’sloverbeingrepresentedbythesun(inherentlyafieryobject),andthelove

feltbythenarratorhimselfbeinglikenedtoaconsumingfire:

Vediqualm’ardeetmi

consumafuoco

SeehowIburnandhowIam

consumedbyfire

Intheopeningofthismadrigal,Lauridsenrepeatstheword“lass”(alas),bothonandoff

the beat, creating a limping and unexpected pulse that expresses the overwhelming

despairofthenarrator(Figure18).Thiswordpaintingisheightenedbytheadditionof

“restsflankingeachrepetitionofthewordlend[ing]breathlessnesstoitsexpression”,98

andtherepetitionofthephrase“eìnonrisponde”(“itdoesn’trespond”)createsasense

ofpleadingforananswer.

BothLauridsenandBryarsalsoincorporatemadrigalismsintotheirbooks.Forexample,

in Bryar’s first madrigal, he uses a dotted rhythm with accented first note and a

descendingfigureinthetoptwovoicestocreateasenseoffalling/weepinginorderto

representtheword‘lagrime’(‘tears’).(Figure19).

97Raybon,“Oldformnewlyclothed”.98Ibid.,21.

41

Figure18:LauridsenI.

Thisideaofthedescendingpassageisacommoninterpretationofweeping,withasimilar

technique originating in the Renaissance. This can be seen below in the comparison

betweenArcadeltandLauridsen.Lauridsenusesasuspensionthatresolvesdownonthe

word‘piango’(‘weeping’)(Figure20),whichisincrediblysimilartoArcadelt’ssettingof

theword‘piangendo’(‘cryingout’)(Figure21).99

99Arcadelt,Jacques.IlBiancoeDolceCigno.EditedbyJohannesBecker,(1539)2012.http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/d/d8/Arca_IlBian.pdf.

42

Figure19:BryarsI.

Figure20:LauridsenIV.

43

Figure21:Arcadelt,Ilbianco

BryarsandLauridsenagainusesimilarmadrigalismstorepresenttheideaofleadingand

following.TheendingofBryars’fifthmadrigalcleverlypaintsapictureofthetext,with

themelodylinebeingpassedbetweenthevoices,followingonfromoneanother,forthe

text‘m’àdduce(‘Ifollow/heleads’)(Figure22).Similarly,Lauridsenpassesthephrase‘et

miconduceamorte’(‘leadsmetomydeath’)betweentheparts,eachoneleadingthenext

entry,creatingtheauralexperienceofpartsleadingoneanother(Figure23).

Figure22BryarsV.

44

Figure23:LauridsenII.

In creatingmy ownmadrigals, I employed the concept of hermeneutics, which is, as

discussed in Chapter 1.2, the theory of “the interpretation of meaning” of texts. 100

InterpretingthemeaningofeachofthepoemsIchosetosetwasanessentialfirststepin

ordertothenexpressthismeaningthroughthemusic.Forexample,“Sleepless”usesad

libitumboxeswithaccentson thewords “nights” and “sleeps” to createanunsettling

backgroundofchaos,furtherheightenedbythediscordancecreatedbetweentheC,Dand

E(Figure24).This“incessant”textureexpressesthefrustrationandexhaustionfeltby

thenarratorwhocan’tsleepduetotheheatofsummerandperhapsherowninsomnia.

Whensearchingforpoemstoset,IspecificallychosetextsthatIinterpretedtocontaina

duality of meanings. For example,Motion Madrigals II. “The SpinningWheel”, which

containsveryfewwords,canbeinterpretedintwoways(textgivenbelow).Thefirst,a

literal interpretationwiththe imageofawheelcontinuouslymoving,contrastingwith

the image of ‘no revolution’ – two images that, when taken literally, are in direct

contradiction.Iftakenmetaphorically,thetruemeaningofthesewordsrevealsitself:the

ideaofasocietycontinuouslyinaction,repeatingthesameactionsoverandover,but

neverprogressinganywhereorseeinganypositivechange.

100Bleicher,Josef.ContemporaryHermeneutics:HermeneuticsasMethod,PhilosophyandCritique.London:Routledge,1980.https://doi-org.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/10.4324/9781315112558.1.

45

Thewheelstillspinning

Thereisnorevolution

ExtractedfromAlisonMarshall’sTimeFix

Figure24:“Sleepless“

46

Madrigalisms can be seen throughout “The Spinning Wheel”, with the continuous

ostinatosrepresentingthe“wheelstillspinning”,especiallywhentheybeginmovingup

anddownthesameshortscalicpassage.Thelimitedrangeofthisscale(athird)alsoaids

in theexpressionof thesecond layerofmeaning: there isplentyofmovementbutno

progress.Thereisalsoanelementofaugenmusikinthesepassages,withthenotesbeing

trappedwithintheconfinesofthecage-likestaff(Figure25andFigure26).

Figure25:"TheSpinningWheel”–tenorandbassostinato

Figure26:"TheSpinningWheel”-sopranoandaltoostinato

AsimilardualitycanbeseeninthethirdmovementofMotionMadrigals,alsoonatext

extracted fromMarshall’sTimeFix(seebelow).Onthesurface,weseetwocharacters

whoareusingmovementtotrytohidefromtheirpain.Whenplacednexttoeachother,

thereisanimpliedsharedhistory,andthesuggestionofarelationshipbetweenthemthat

hasturnedsour.

47

Thedancerenterspantingfast

Distractedbythebeats

Sheswirlstocoverherpast

Therunnerhisheartstillmissing

Goneisthepassion

ExtractedfromAlisonMarshall’sTimeFix

Mysecondbook,MadrigalsofNature,usestextswithlayersofmeanings,as there isa

themeofcontrastingimagesofnaturetothehumanconditionthroughout.Forexample,

thetextof“Dew”bySaraTeasdale(forfulltext,seeVol.II,page19)expertlypivotsfrom

paintingthesceneryoffarmlandkissedbythemorningdew,tothejourneytakenbytwo

lovers.

Aspartofmydesignofthemadrigal,Iusedmanyinstancesofmadrigalisms;animportant

feature of themadrigal. On a text by Teasdale (full text in Vol. II, page 18), the first

MadrigalofNature,“Stars”describesthe“majesty”ofthestarsasviewedbythenarrator

who,sittingaloneontheirhill,feelshumbledbytheexpanseabovethem.Iamdrawnto

Teasdale’s poetry forwriting songs as she has awonderful ability to create beautiful

images that lend themselves to music well, in addition to the existence of layered

meaningswithinherpoems.Thismakesherpoetryveryadaptabletomadrigals,asshe

usessimilarthemestothoseoftenfoundinRenaissancemadrigals(loveandnaturebeing

foremost among Teasdale’s themes, often layered with metaphors or a duality of

meanings).

Inordertoexpressthe“heavenfullofstars”,Icreatedaneight-partpolyphonictexture

ofshortphrasesthatimitatesthevastnightskywithitsbrighttwinklesoflightthatpop

outatyoufromdifferentplaces(Figure27).

Ihaveusedasimilartechniquein“Dew”,usingfour-partpolyphonyinordertopaintthe

imageofthe“tangledweeds”(Figure28).

48

Figure27:“Stars”

49

Figure28:“Dew”

Whenanalysedfromahistorical-comparativeperspective,eachofthecontemporarycase

studieslendscredencetothevalidityofthemadrigalbeingdefinedbyitscharacteristics,

ratherthanfromthetimeperiodinwhichitwaswritten.Alltheseexamplesrespondto

theliterarycontentonwhichtheyaredrawn,withtheoneexceptionbeingLigeti’sthird

madrigal,“TheAlphabet”,whichextendstheideaofexpressionoftext.Perhapsthemost

important feature forRenaissancemadrigalists is expressing themeaning of the text.

Thus, the hermeneutics approach to interpretation becomes an important step in

selectingthetexttobeset.Theresponseofthecontemporarycasestudiestothetextural

elementsofthetraditionalmadrigalsupportstheneedforanupdateddefinition.

50

Wordpaintingoffersarichnessofexpressionoftext,ashasbeendemonstratedinmy

booksofmadrigals.Indesigningmybooks,Ihavedemonstratedthecharacteristicsofa

seculartext,andtheexpressionofthemeaningofthetext.InkeepingwithRenaissance

madrigal tradition, Ihave chosen textswithadualityofmeaningsand includedword

paintingthroughoutmybooks,astheseareanimportantaspecttoincludeinamodelof

thecontemporarymadrigal.

51

Chapter4:Structure

4.1Through-composedInordertounderstandthestructureoftheRenaissancemadrigal,itisimportanttofirst

consideritspredecessor–thefrottola–andthepoetryuponwhichthefrottolaisbased.

Thefrottolaisasimplehomophonicpieceinfourparts,wherethepoetrydeterminesthe

lengthsofthephrases,butimportantly,isalwaysstrophic.101Themusicfollowsastrophic

structureclosely,repeatingthesamemusicalmaterialforeachstanza.102Thisrepetition

ofmusicalmaterial,nomatterthetext,limitedthecapacityofcomposerstoexploreword

painting.103

When the madrigalwas first being developed, many composers rebelled against the

limitingnatureof the frottola, insteadpreferringpoetrywithsinglestanzasandthose

that emphasized a flexible pattern of verse lengths and a free rhyme scheme. 104 By

creatingsongsthatwerethrough-composed,madrigalistscouldescapetheconfinesof

repetition,thereforeallowingfreeexpressionandwordpaintingofthetextatanyand

everypoint–theimportanceofwhichisdiscussedpreviouslyinChapter3.

While a defining characteristic of the Renaissance madrigals is a through-composed

structure, not all of the contemporary case studies reflect this ideal. Following the

Renaissance tradition of setting a single stanza in a through-composed fashion most

closelyisShank:fiveoutofhissixmadrigalssetasinglestanzapoem,andallofthemare

through-composed. For his fifth madrigal, which sets a poem of four stanzas, it is

significantthathesetseachstanzadifferently,ratherthanrepeatingthesamemusical

materialandoverlayingthedifferentwords.Thisismostevidentbetweenthethirdand

fourthstanzasofthepoem(bar57,Figure29),wherethemusicseesasignificantshiftin

tempo, texture,harmonyandfeeling,going fromplayfulandflirtatiousto“tenderand

romantic”.105This shift in textural andmusicalmoodnear theending,occurringabout

101Roche,Madrigal,12.102ArnoldandWakelin,"Frottola.".103Ibid.104FenlonandHaar,MadrigalinSixteenthCentury,13.105Shank,ColourMadrigals.

52

two-thirds of theway in,may be a nod to the favoured “epigrammatic point” of the

Renaissancecomposers.

Figure29:ShankV.–startsatcrotchet=138

BothLigetiandBryarssettextslongerthanasinglestanza,however,theybothignored

therepetitivestructureofthetexttocreatethrough-composedmadrigalsthatexpressed

themeaningof thetext.By ignoringthestructure indicatedwithinthetext,Ligetiand

BryarsarestillaffordedthefreedomofexpressiontheRenaissancemadrigalistsaimed

toachieve. In fact,Ligeti’s techniqueofoverlayingmultiple texts,eachwiththeirown

structure,achievesthesameeffectasselectingasingletextwithoutarepetitivestructure

53

–byoverlayingthreetextswithcompetingtexturalstructures,heisunabletofollowany

ofthem.ThisismostclearinthefirstNonsenseMadrigal(“TwoDreamsandalittlebat”),

whichutilisesthreetexts,asdiscussedinChapter3.

Crumbalsoaffordshimselffreedomfromanimposedtexturalstructurebyselectingonly

onelineoftexttosetpermovement.Thishasthesameeffectassettingasinglestanza

withinconsistentlinelengths,asshortextractsoftextmeanthereisnoimpetusinthe

structureofthewordsforlargescalerepetition.AllthreemovementsinhisMadrigals

BookIarethrough-composed,eventhoughthesecondmovementseesthematicmaterial

return.Infact,inthismovementCrumbrepeatsthefirsthalfofthelineoftext,settingit

indifferentways,thusallowinghimtoexpressthedifferentlayersofmeaningwithinthe

text,whichtakestheRenaissanceidealtonewlevels.

Interestingly, the composer who breaks with the through-composed nature of the

madrigalisLauridsen,whoisperhapsthecomposerofallthecasestudiesmosttryingto

alignhimselfwithRenaissancemadrigalists.Onlytwoofhissixmovementsarethrough-

composed,withtheremaining fourcontaining large-scalerepetitions.Of the fourthat

repeatsections,threeusethesamewordswhenthesectionsarerepeated,ratherthan

overlayingdifferentstanzasontothesamemusicalmaterial.Thus,theexpressionoftext

ispreserved.Thatbeingsaid,hisfifthmadrigal(“Luci,sereneechiare”)repeatssections

withdifferentwords,thusbreakingthemadrigalists’idealofexpressionoftextaboveall

else. This is surprising as Lauridsen intentionally connects himself with Renaissance

madrigalists.Perhapswhenhewaswritinghisownmadrigalshedecidedthethrough-

composed nature of the Renaissance madrigals was not a feature he regarded as

important,orwishedtoemulate.Additionally,eachofhistextsareasinglestanzalong

anddonot implytheneedfor largescalerepetitions.Perhapshischosentextsareall

singlestanzabychance,as,afterall,hechosetextsthatwereoriginallysetbyRenaissance

madrigalistswhofavouredthesinglestanzapoem.

Formyowntwobooks,Ihaveusedavarietyofdifferenttextlengthsthroughout,and

purposelywritteneachmadrigalwitha through-composedstructure.The secondand

thirdsongsinMotionMadrigalsareeachbasedonfragmentsofthesamepoem,whichI

haveselectedinordertocreateameaningfulexcerpt(textexcerptsshowninChapter

54

3.2).ThisissimilartotheapproachtakenbyCrumbinhismadrigals.Withsuchalimited

setoftext,theopportunityforrepetitionofwordsoccurs.For“TheSpinningWheel”this

repetitionworksperfectlytoexpressthetext,asbycreatinganostinatowiththesame

word,theimageofawheelcontinuouslyspinningcanbeconjured(seethetenorandbass

partsinFigure30).Forthethirdmadrigal,repeatingthetextallowsforthemeaningto

beemphasizedandforthelistenertowallowinthefeelingcreated.Thisisespeciallyclear

inthe“yearning”section,wheretherepetitionoftheword“missing”throughdifferent

inversions of the same chord creates a sense of longing for what is lost, therefore

expressingthemeaningofthetext(Figure31).

Figure30:"TheSpinningWheel"

Figure31:“TheDancerandtheRunner”

55

Boththefirstandlastmadrigalinthisbookarebasedonasinglestanza(thoughIV.isa

stanzaextractedfromalongerpoem),whichallowsforathrough-composedstructure

easilyasthereisnotarepeatedlarge-scalestructureinthetext.

Eachofthesongsinmyeight-partbook,MadrigalsofNature,arealsothrough-composed,

despitemanybeingbasedonpoemsofmultiplestanzas.Here,Itakethesameapproach

asLigetiandBryars,decidingitwasnotnecessarytofollowthetexturalstructureimplied

bythemultiplestanzasofthepoem,andthattheexpressionofthetextwasparamount.

ThisisincontrasttomysongAutumnSadness,whichIoriginallyintendedtobelongto

thisbook.Althoughthissongisbasedonasinglestanza,asIwaswriting,Ifeltthemusic

dictatedthattheopeningsectionneededreiteratingattheend,inordertocreateaproper

senseofcompleteness(Figure32cf.Figure33).Thus,thestructureofthissongendswith

anA1section,andisnotthrough-composed.Forthisreason,IdecidedAutumnSadness

didnotbelongwithinmyMadrigalsofNaturebook.

Figure32:AutumnSadness-Asection

56

Figure33:AutumnSadness-A1section

Thestructureofthemadrigalisanimportantelement,withtheRenaissancemadrigalists

creating works that were through-composed to allow for the expression of text

throughout.Thisisalsothecaseinfouroutofthefivecontemporarycasestudies,and

thuswhenanalysedfromahistorical-comparativeperspective,itisclearthestructural

elementofthedefinitionisstillvalidforthecontemporarymadrigal.Designingthrough-

composedmadrigals isadeliberatestrategy inmyownbooks,as it is imperativethis

essentialelementofthemadrigalisincludedinthemodel.

57

4.2BooksofmadrigalsOneoftheuniqueaspectsofmadrigalsisthattheyarepublishedinsetscalled“books”.

Thesebooksaregenerallywrittenforthesamenumberofvoiceswithineachbook,106and

wereintendedtobesungasonevoiceperpart(discussedfurtherinChapter5.1).Thisis

theapproachIhavetakenwithmyownbooks:thefirstbookMotionMadrigalsiswritten

for fourvoices(SATB),while thesecondbookMadrigalsofNature iswritten foreight

voices(SSAATTBB).Booksofmadrigalsgenerallyhaveaunifyingfeature,whetherthat

be a textual theme, settingof the samepoet (or coupleofpoets), orunifyingmusical

elements.The contemporary case studies follow this convention,witheachcomposer

groupingtheirmadrigalsintobookswithunifyingcomponents.

Bryarshasbeenexplicitinhisgroupingofmadrigalsintobooks,namingthemafterthe

RenaissancefashionasFirstbookofMadrigals,SecondbookofMadrigalsetc.Thisfollows

the tradition set by some of the most influential madrigalists such as Gesualdo and

Monteverdi.Strengtheninghistiestothehistoricalmadrigals,Bryarshaschosentoset

thepoemsofPetrarch–thefavouredpoetoftheRenaissancemadrigalists.HisSecond

Book ofMadrigals sets Petrarch texts fromRime Sparse andOther Lyrics,withBryars

focusingonthe“sonnetsknownastheRimaSparsi("scatteredverses")”.107Mostofthese

madrigalssharethethemeoflove,anextremelycommontopicinRenaissancemadrigals.

TherearealsocommonimagesacrossBryars’book,withthephrase‘ilbelviso’(‘lovely

face’)used inboththethirdandninthmadrigals.There isalsotherecurring imageof

‘occhi’(‘eyes’),withthephrase‘begliocchi’(‘lovelyeyes’)beingusedmultipletimes.In

fact, allbut threeof the15songsmentioneyes,orgazing/looking/seeing. Inorder to

strengthen theunitywithin the book, Bryarshasmademusical references across the

bookforthephrasescontainingeyes.Forexample,notetherepeatedmusicalmaterial

usedforthephrase‘begliocchi’inthesoprano1andtenor2linesinthefirstmadrigal

(Figure34),andthesoprano1and2linesinthesecondmadrigal(Figure35)–theshared

musicalmaterialusedforthephrasesinbothsongsisclear.Ifweagaincomparethefirst

madrigal’siterationof ‘occhi’,to‘occhi’totheninthmadrigal’s(Figure36),wecansee

distinctsimilarities–bothfeatureaduetbetweenasopranoandtenor,bothsectionsare

106Ossi,“MadrigalsintheirPlace”,2016.107Bryars,“Onmadrigals”.

58

inAminor,bothfeatureanascendingminorthirdwhichthenfallsinsteps,andbothuse

thefollowingrhythm:

Thesecross-referenceswithinthebookcreateunityacrossthesetofBryars’madrigals.

Figure34:BryarsI.

Figure35:BryarsII.

59

Figure36:BryarsIX.

Similarly,LauridsenhasalsochosentolinkhimselftotheRenaissancemadrigalists,both

through his choice of text, and by basing his madrigals on a theme. Much like the

RenaissancemadrigalistsMonteverdi,whoseeighthbookofmadrigalsistitledMadrigali

guerrierietamorosi(Madrigalsofwarandlove)andGiachesDeWeert,whowrotetwo

bookstitledMadrigaledelfiore(Madrigalsoftheflower),Lauridsenchosetospecifyhis

choice of theme – fire – in the title of his book:Madrigali: Six fire-songs on Italian

Renaissance poems.Each of his six songs are based on poems by Italian Renaissance

writers,whichwereusedinmadrigalsatthetime,andallfeaturetheuseoffireimagery

torepresentunrequitedlove.Thefirstfivetextsaretakenfromananthologyofsixteenth

centurymadrigaltexts,andthesixthfromamadrigalwrittenbyoneofthemostfamous

Renaissancemadrigalists,Monteverdi.108Similarly,bothShankandLigetihavechosena

textual theme for their books of madrigals as well, being colour and nonsense

respectively.Thesearediscussedindetailfurtheroninthischapter.

Lauridsenutiliseswhathehimselfhasdubbedthe‘fire-chord’inthescorethroughouthis

bookasaunifyingdevice.These‘fire-chords’are“referredtobyLauridsenasmajoror

108Raybon,“Oldformnewlyclothed”.

60

minortriadswithanaddedsecondorninth,usuallyherald[ing]thepresenceoffireinthe

text.”109ThischordcanbeseenineachofthesixFiresongs.Inthefirstsong,itappearsas

aBbminorsus2chordthroughouttheopeningsection(Figure37).Thissameiteration

ofthefire-chordreturnsinthefinalsong,usedinbars14and15(Figure38),ontheword

‘voi’ (‘you’) as if tohighlight that the subjectof thenarrator’s love is the causeofhis

torment.Thisrepetitionofnotonlythefire-chord,buttheexactsameiterationinthefirst

andlastsongsofthebookcreateasenseofsymmetryandthereforeunityintheset.

Thesecondmovementseesaseriesofsus2chordsinbars38-40,asitsrepresentationof

thefire-chord,mostnotablywithaGminorsus2chordontheword‘fiamma’(‘flame’)in

bar40(Figure39).

Figure37:LauridsenI.Opening

109Ibid.,17.

61

Figure38:LauridsenVI.Bars13–15

Figure39:LauridsenII.Bars38–40

62

ItisclearLauridsenhasconceivedhisbookasawhole,ascanbeseenthroughthearc-

likestructureoftheset.Thefirstandlastmovementsarebalancedbykey(Bbminor);

the secondand fifth songsareapair as theyare the “lightest”movements, aswell as

sharingthesamekey(Bminor);andthefirst,fourthandsixthmovementssharethematic

material.110Forexample,comparetheopeningofthefirstFire-songwithbars17–18of

thefourthsong(Figure37andFigure40):bothfeaturetherepeated‘fire-chord’anda

similarrhythmofacrotchetortwoquavers(allwithtenutos)followedbyacrotchetrest.

Figure40:LauridsenIV.Bars16–18

Comparealsotheseexcerptsfromthefirstsongandthefinalsong(bothofwhicharein

thesamekey):

110Ibid.,11.

63

Figure41:LauridsenI.Bars25–27

Figure42:LauridsenVI.Bars13–14

BothofthesesectionsfeatureaCflatmajorsuschord(thoughinmovementoneitisa

sus6,andinmovementsixitisasus2chord),andamelodiclinecentredaroundthenotes

Cnatural,DflatandCflat(seethesopranolineinFigure41andthetenorlineinFigure

42).This similarityofmaterialstrengthens the senseof thebookended first and final

movements,tofurthercreateasenseofsymmetryandunity.

Shankalsounifieshisbookofmadrigalsthroughhischoiceoftext,andbyhisuseofa

theme–colour.AsdiscussedinChapter3,eachofShank’smadrigalsutilisesthepoetry

64

ofJohnKeats,witheachsongfeaturingadifferentcolour.Therecurringnatureimagery

andplayfulnessofthesesongswouldnotbeoutofplaceduringtheRenaissanceperiod,

asbothofthesethemesarestronglyfeaturedintheRenaissancemadrigals.Additionally,

Shankusessomecommonmusicalelementstofurtherunifyhisset.Forexample,mostof

thesongsbeginonaunison(oroctave)note,orevenasinglenote,asisthecasewiththe

last song, and build outwards from there (Figure 43 – Figure 47). Only the second

movementbeginsonachord.

Figure43:ShankI.Opening

Figure44:ShankIII.Opening

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1. Serpents in Red Roses Hissing

Commissioned by The Singers - Minnesota Choral ArtistsMatthew Culloton, Conductor

for Stephen Swanson

Color Madrigals

SATB Chorus, a cappella

Joshua ShankJohn Keats

GP - S001 pdf download $5.00 / set

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3. Purple-Stainéd Mouth

Commissioned by The Summer SingersVicki Peters, Conductor

SATB Chorus, a cappellafor Susan Witter-Shank

John Keats Joshua Shank

GP - S001 pdf download $5.00 / set

65

Figure45:ShankIV:Opening

Figure46:ShankV.Opening

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SATB Chorus, a cappella

* A brief stop of the tone followed by a quick, not-too-heavy, glottal restart (like the same technique in Renaissance music).

for Ryan Newstrom

John KeatsJoshua Shank

GP - S001 pdf download $5.00 / set

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Matthew Culloton, Conductor

SATB Chorus, a cappellafor Jocelyn Hagen and Tim Takach

John Keats Joshua Shank

GP - S001 pdf download $5.00 / set

66

Figure47:ShankVI.Opening

Furthermore,mostofShank’ssongsfinishinasimilarfashion,withallbutmovements

twoandsixendingonahum.111Ofthese,movementsthree,fourandfiveallendwitha

suspendedchord,thoughdifferentsuspensionsareusedineach:Dsus6,Asus4andEsus2

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movement six (Figure 51), with all voices in a similar register, the rising tenor and

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Commissioned by The Singers-Minnesota Choral ArtistsMatthew Culloton, Conductor

SATB Chorus, a cappellafor Tea Richwrice

GP - S001 pdf download $5.00 / set

John Keats Joshua Shank

67

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69

commissionedbyTheKing’sSingers,withLigetiaddingtwoextramovementslater.An

argumentcouldbemadethatduetothetwo-stageproductionofthemovements,theset

wasnotoriginallyconceivedassuch.However,uponanalysisofLigeti’soriginalsketches

forthework,itiscleartheadditionaltwomovementsusedalltheremainingideashehad

forthebookinthefirstplace,andassuchwerecompletinganotherwiseunfinishedset.112

AnessayfromWolfgangMarxexaminesthesesketchesindetail,stating:

DraftsofallsixmadrigalsgobacktotheperiodApril–July1988;Ligetiapparently

considered‘TheLobsterQuadrille’and‘ALong,SadTale’fromthebeginningof

thecompositionalprocessaspossiblepartsofthecycle.113

Aswellasthesourceoftext(asdiscussedinChapter3),Ligetiusesparodytounifyinghis

bookofmadrigals.114AdoctoralthesiswrittenbyDennisMalfattiin2004exploresthe

ideaofparodywithinLigeti’sNonsenseMadrigals.Hewrites:

Onthetechnicallevel,thetitlealonesuggestsaparody,onsomelevel,ofthelate

16thcenturysecularvocalform.Butamoresubstantialanalysisrevealsparodies

ofevenearliercomplexcompositionaltechniques.115

Thefirstsong,“TwoDreamsandaLittleBat”,parodiesthe14thcenturystyleoftheArs

novamotet–afourteenthcenturyFrenchstylewhichsawthedevelopmentofanewform

of rhythmic notation, and therefore more complex rhythmic writing, and more

independentpartwriting.116Arsnovamotetsoftencontainmultipletexts,apolyphonic

texture,acomplicatedrhythmicstructure,andacantusfirmus.117Allofthesefeaturescan

beseenin“TwoDreamsandaLittleBat”:itfeaturestextsbybothCarrollandBrightly-

Rands,and(asdiscussedinChapter3.2)thealtosandbaritonessingcompetingmelodies

indifferenttimesignaturesaroundthe‘cantusfirmus’ofthetenor,inaclearparallelwith

112Marx,Wolfgang.“‘HowIWonderWhatYou’reat!’—SketchStudiesofLigeti’sNonsenseMadrigals.”ContemporaryMusicReview31,no.2–3(April1,2012):135–48.https://doi.org/10.1080/07494467.2012.717356.113Ibid.,143.114Malfatti,“AnalysisofLigeti”,21.115Ibid.,25.116Bullock,Alison.“ArsNova.”InTheOxfordCompaniontoMusic(Online).OxfordUniversityPress,2011.https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780199579037.013.0415.117Malfatti,“AnalysisifLigeti”,29.

70

thearsnovamotet.Whattakesthesefeaturesbeyondmerereferencetoparody,isthe

contrast between the musical references to a serious, sacred song form, used in the

contextofsilly,andevennonsensical,children’stexts.Additionally,theCarrollvariation

of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” is itself a parody.118 However, thismovement is not

entirelyremovedfromtheRenaissancemadrigal,withfastmovingpassagesonthetext

“running” parodying Thomas’ Weelkes’ madrigal As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill

Descending119(Figure52cf.Figure53).120

Figure52:LigetiI."Running"passages

118Ibid.,30.119Weelkes,Thomas.AsVestaWasfromLatmosHillDescending.EditedbyDianaThompson,(1601)2006.http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/As_Vesta_was_from_Latmos_hill_descending_(Thomas_Weelkes).120Malfatti,“AnalysisifLigeti”,36.

71

Figure53:Weelkes,AsVestasWasfromLatmosHillDescending

Thesecondandthirdmadrigalsarelessobviousintheiruseofparody,howeveritisstill

verymuch present. Referring to the secondmovement,Malfatti states “Ligeti's vocal

settingofbirdsoundscanbeseenasaparodyofthesixteenthcenturyParisianchanson

(whichitselfisaparodytypegenre),suchasClémentJanequin'sLeChantdesoyseaux”.121

As for the third movement, perhaps the most obscure in the set, Ligeti is actually

parodyinghisowntechniqueof‘micropolyphony’–byoverlappingandstretchingoutthe

lettersofthealphabettothepointwhereitisunrecognisable, ‘TheAlphabet”bearsan

aural similarity to Ligeti’s more serious choral works, such as Lux Aeterna and

Atomospheres. 122 However, the choice of ‘ridiculous’ text, the letters of the alphabet,

standsinstarkcontrasttotheauraleffect.Itisalmostasifthelistenerischallengedto

discoverthejokewithinthemusicbeforereachingtheendofthesong.

Parodycanalsobeclearlyseeninthefifthmadrigal.TheCarrolltextisagainaparodyin

and of itself, and is actually rather similar to the text used in the secondNonsense

Madrigal,inwhichanimalsarealsohavingconversations.“TheLobsterQuadrille”also

seesmusicalreferencestoboththeEnglishandFrenchNationalAnthems(Figure54and

Figure55)setsottovoce,creatingaclearsenseofmusicalaswellastexturalparody.123

121Ibid.,65.122Ibid.,106.123Ibid.,137-138.

37

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72

This idea ofparody running throughout theNonsenseMadrigals isused as a unifying

deviceforthebook,aswellasthetexturalthemeofnonsense.

Figure54:LigetiV.EnglishNationalAnthem

Figure55:LigetiV.FrenchNationalAnthem

SimilartoBryars,Crumbhaschosentosourcethetextforhisbooksofmadrigalsfroma

singlepoet;allfourofhisbooksofmadrigalssetthetextofLorca,creatingunityboth

withineachbookofmadrigalsaswellasacrosstheentireset.Inafurthersteptounity

73

across the fourbooks,Crumbhasstructured the fourbooks the sameway,witheach

divided into three short movements utilising a fragment of a poem. In fact, the

movementsaresoshorttheentiresetoffourbookslastsforonly32minutes.124Crumb’s

madrigals are fastidiously planned at every level, with an “impeccable” “sense of

proportion and balance in these short movements”. 125 These movements then come

togethertocreatethefourbooks,whichare“eachabletostandindependently”,butcan

cometogethertoformthe32minuteset.126Thissenseofbelongingtoalargerscalework

canbetakenevenfurther,withtheMadrigalshavingaclearplacewithinCrumb’slarger

set of ten pieces known as the Lorca cycle, beginningwithNightMusic I (1963) and

finishingwithTheGhostsofAlhambra(2008),127includingthefamoussongcycleAncient

Voices of Children written in 1970.128This Lorca cycle ismore than just unified by a

commonlyricist–asFlemingdescribes:

[Each movement] functions as a complete whole in and of itself, but great

attentionisalsogiventotheinteractionofmovementswithinthelargercycle.129

Withineachof thebooksofmadrigals,Crumb’suniquegesturalstyle ispresent,often

withmelody linesandthemesbeingpassedaroundtheensemble.Oneof theunifying

features withinMadrigals Book I is the treatment of the soprano as an instrument,

breakingdownsyllables intosoundstocreateapercussiveeffect(Figure56toFigure

58).

124Fleming,“LorcacyclesofCrumb”,18.125Ibid.126Ibid.127Ibid.,1.128Steinitz,“Crumb”.129Fleming,“LorcacyclesofCrumb”,18.

74

Figure56:CrumbI.

Figure57:CrumbII

75

Figure58:CrumbIII

Crumbalso links the first and thirdmovementof thisbook togetherbyusing similar

materialinthesopranopart:passagesofhummingratherchromaticsectionswithlarge

jumps up, divided into short phrases to create gestures, and sung at a soft dynamic

(Figure59andFigure60).

Figure59:CrumbI

76

Figure60:CrumbIII

ItistheseunifyingfeaturesthatmakeitclearCrumb’sbooksofmadrigalswereconceived

asaset,notjustwithineachofthebooksthemselves,butalsoasasetoffourbooksthat

belongtogether,andaspartofthelargerLorcacycle.

AllofthecontemporarycasestudiesreplicatetheRenaissancegroupingofmadrigalsinto

cohesivebooks,withdifferent features that createunity throughout them. Ihavealso

groupedmymadrigalsintobooks,withdifferentunifyingfeaturesforeach,butbothof

mybooksofmadrigals,MotionMadrigalsandMadrigalsofNature,aregroupedbythe

numberofvoices(fourandeightrespectively)andbytheme,clearlydelineatedinthe

titleofeach.Furthermore,allofthepoemsIhavesetarewrittenbyfemaleauthors,which

addsunitywithineachbook.

Whilewritingmymadrigals,Itooktwodifferentapproachesonplanninghowtogroup

eachofthetwobooks.FortheMadrigalsofNature,Ilimitedmyselftochoosingpoems

written by female authors and published during the nineteenth century. However,

beyondchoosingtextsfromaparticularsetofauthorswithacommontheme,Ididnot

confinemyself to anymusical features, including keys. In someways, this allowed a

freedomtoshifttonalitiesasIsawfitasIwasunconcernedabouttheorderinwhichthe

bookwouldfittogether.Uponorderingthefivesongsinthebook,carefulconsideration

hadtobemadeoftheopeningandclosingkeysofeach,andtherelationshipthatwould

becreatedwhenmovingbetweenmadrigals.

77

Ialsoincludedsomemusicalreferencesbetweenthesongsinordertocreateunity.For

example, the “threadedwith stars” phrase in “Dew” (Figure 61) references “Stars” to

highlighttheoccurrenceoftheword“stars”inthepoem.Thisisachievedthroughtheuse

ofacrotchettripletrhythmsungbythetenorsandbasses,referencingthe“overmyhead”

sectionof“Stars”(Figure62).

Figure61:"Dew"–tenorandbass

Figure62:"Stars"–tenorandbass

FortheMotionMadrigals,Itooktheapproachofplanningthespecificorderofthesongs,

andhow Iwasgoing tomovebetween them, as Iwaswriting them. I alsopurposely

composedmusicalsimilaritiesbetweeneachofthemovementsinordertocreateunity.

Forexample,eachofmyMotionMadrigalsfinisheswithahomophonicphrasethatmarks

achange fromthepreviousmaterial;andallbutone(IV. “TheLostBells”)beginona

78

singlenote.Thesemusicalfeatures,alongwiththeuseofonlyfemalepoetsandacommon

textualtheme,createunitywithinthebook.

Thestructureofthesecontemporarymadrigalsagainindicatestheydoindeedreflectthe

definitionofthemadrigal.Allbutonefollowathrough-composedstructure,anelementI

myselfdeemedimportantenoughtoexcludeasongfrommybooksonthebasisofalarge-

scale repetition. The outlier, Lauridsen, establisheshis connection to theRenaissance

madrigalsstronglyinotheraspects(mostnotablythroughhischoiceoftext)andupholds

theRenaissanceidealofexpressionoftext(asdiscussedinChapter3).Thus,througha

historical-comparativeanalysis,thisaspectofthedefinitionremainsvalid.Anelement

unique to the madrigal is the publishing in sets called books, which again all of the

contemporarycasestudieshavefollowed,withelementssuchastheme,poetsormusical

devicescreatingunitywithinthesebooks.Idesignedmymadrigalsintwobooks,allowing

mymodelofthemadrigaltodemonstratethestructuralelementofthemadrigalwhichis

evidentinboththeRenaissanceandcontemporarydefinition.

79

Chapter5:Music

5.1EnsembleNatureTheensemblenatureofthemadrigalisperhapstheareawherecontemporarycomposers

havemovedbeyondtheRenaissancecharacteristicsmostsignificantly.

Renaissancemadrigalswerecomposedfor the“pleasureofahighlycultivatedliterary

society”,130astheywere“intendedforanarrowlyrestrictedsocialcircle”,131andhaveno

basisinfolkmusic.Indeed,theycouldnothaveanyconnectiontoItalianfolkmusicas

theywerecreatedandproducedbyoltramontani–literallytranslatedas“othersideof

themountain”–musiciansnativetotheNetherlandsandFrance.132Thefrottola,thesong

form themadrigal succeeds,was also a genre for the upper classes, belonging to the

Venetiannobility.Thiswasdespiteits“lackofelevatedtone”,andattimesthefrottola

incorporated elements of the Italian folk tradition, albeit generally in a mocking

fashion.133ItisbelievedtheacademicgroupsurroundingcardinalandpoetPietroBembo

were the first to consider the “vulgar” tone of the frottola distasteful. This led to the

creationofamorepolishedformofpoetry,whichwasthenset tomusic tocreatethe

madrigal.134

As“themadrigalwaswrittenexpresslyfortheamusementofthecourtiers”,135thesizeof

theensemblebecameanimportantaspectoftheRenaissancemadrigal.Thevastmajority

ofRenaissancemadrigalswere“unaccompaniedforbetweentwo–eightvoices”,136with

one voice per part. Indeed, the madrigal was “cultivated by musicians for the

improvement of art, and intended solely for an intimate circle of connoisseurs and

amateurslikethoseassembledatthecourtsofprincesandintheacademies”.137Itwas

130Dent,“Musicalform”,234.131EinsteinandBaker,“TheMadrigal.”,475.132Ibid.133Ibid.134Ibid.135Marrocco,WThomas.“TheFourteenth-CenturyMadrigal:ItsFormandContents.”Speculum26,no.3(July1,1951):449–457CR–Copyright©1951MedievalAcademy.https://doi.org/10.2307/2850864.456.136Fischeretal.“Madrigal”.137EinsteinandBaker,“TheMadrigal.”477.

80

thisexclusivityofthegenrethatreducedthesizeofthevocalensemble,as“themusicof

the madrigal was too refined, too florid, and too complicated structurally and

rhythmically to be sung with any degree of competence by provincial or itinerant

musicians”.138

Ofthefivecontemporarycasestudies,twomirrortheacappella,smallensemblenature

oftheRenaissancemadrigal139–Bryars’SecondBookofMadrigalsandLigeti’sNonsense

Madrigals–whileCrumb’sbooksarescoredforsmallensemblewithasolosinger,and

bothLauridsen’sandShank’smadrigalswereoriginallywrittenforlargerchoirs,though

canbeeffectivelysungbyasfewaseightsingers.

Bryars’ Second Book is scored for six voices (SSATTBar). It was commissioned by

Rikskonsertene (the Norwegian concert institute) for the Trio Medieval sextet, a

Norwegiantriooffemalevocalists.Forthisproject,theywerejoinedbythreetenors,John

PotterandtwosingersfromtheHilliardEnsemble140.Bryars’SecondBook,andindeedhis

first through sixth books of madrigals, are written for unaccompanied ensembles of

betweenthreeandeightsingers.

Ligeti’sNonsenseMadrigalsbeganasacommissionfromtheEnglishmalevocalsextet,

TheKing’sSingers.141Thisoriginallytooktheformofthefirstfourmovements,scoredfor

these six voices a cappella. The later additions of the fifth and sixthmovements also

followed the same scoring, and remained unaccompanied. Perhaps in an attempt to

strengthenhislinkstoearliersongforms,thisscoringmirrorsthatoftheRenaissance

madrigalcomposers.

It is important to note both of these workswere commissioned by groups who are

performersofhistoricalworks.TrioMedievalwereoriginallyformedwiththefocusof

performingpolyphonicworksofthemedievalperiod,thoughtheyhavebroadenedtheir

repertoire to include contemporaryworks,many ofwhichwere commissioned by or

138Marrocco,“Fourteenth-CenturyMadrigal”,456.139Asdiscussedintheliteraturereview,whileaccompaniedmadrigalsdidexistduringtheRenaissance,theywereverymuchthesecondchoiceafterunaccompaniedmadrigals.140Bryars,“OnMadrigals”.141Malfatti,“AnalysisofLigeti”.

81

writtenforthegroup,andScandinavianfolkmusic.142Theirinterestinpolyphonyisclear,

andassuchacontemporarymadrigalsuchastheBryars,withitsstronguseofpolyphony,

is an appropriate addition to their repertoire. Similarly, The King’s Singers pride

themselvesontheirabilitytosingawidevarietyofrepertoire,includinghistoricalforms

andcontemporarycommissions.143

BoththeShankandtheLauridsenmadrigalswereoriginallywrittenforchamberchoirs

(bothofaround30–40singers).Althoughtheseworkswerewrittenforaslightlylarger

choir,perhapsitisonlyimportantthattheyareachievablebyasmallervocalensemble.

Additionally,itisnecessarytoconsiderthecontextofwhenandwherethesepieceswere

written:bothwerewritteninthelast30years,andbyAmericancomposersforAmerican

choirs.ContemporaryAmericahasarichcultureofchoirs,withsignificantlyfewersmall

vocalensembles,andassuchthismaybewhythesepieceswerewrittenforlargergroups.

In fact, in contemporary performance practice, Renaissance madrigals are now

commonly performed by larger groups. This is perhaps due to the rise in musical

education, with a larger percentage of the population receiving a formal education

(musical or otherwise), and therefore the capability to perform theseworks ismore

widespread.ThisiscontrastedtotheRenaissance,wherethecomplexityofthemadrigal

restricteditsaccesstotheeducatedupperclasses.

Shank’s Colour Madrigals were commissioned by The Singers – Minnesota Choral

Artists144, aprofessional choirof around40 singersdirectedbyMatthewCulloton, an

accomplishedconductor,composerandmusiceducator.145However,itisachievablewith

asfewaseightsingers(onevoiceperpart),whichIknowfromexperienceasmyown

vocal ensemble of eight singers has performed these pieces successfully onmultiple

occasions,includingduringtheSingingSwiftlyconcertseasonheldinMay2016.

Similarly,theLauridsenMadrigali,whilescoredforunaccompaniedchoirineightparts,

wasoriginallywrittenforachamberchoirofaround30–40singers;theUniversityof

142TrioMediæval.“TrioMediæval:About.”AccessedOctober25,2018.https://www.triomediaeval.no/trio-medival.143 The King’s Singers. “The King Singers: About Us,” 2018. https://www.kingssingers.com/about-us/. 144Shank,ColourMadrigals.145TheSingers-MinnesotaChoralArtists.“AboutUs,”2017.http://www.singersmca.org/about-us.

82

Southern California Thornton Chamber Singers and their director Rodney

Eichenberger146.Whilethisbookiswrittenforaslightlylargerchoir,itmostlystaysin

fourpartsandonlyoccasionallysplitsintoeightpartssowouldbeachievablewithasfew

as eight singers, thereby complying with the ensemble nature of the Renaissance

madrigals. The advantages of performing these two works with the larger choir, as

originallyintended,istheabilityforgreaterdynamicrangeandlongersustainedlines

(duetotheabilitytostaggerthebreath).

TheCrumbmadrigals stand in contrast to theother contemporary casestudies, asan

exampleofatwentiethcenturywork,explicitlycalled‘madrigal’bythecomposer,that

doesnot follow theessential characteristicsof theRenaissancemadrigal.While these

worksareindeedwrittenforasmallensemble,theystandoutastheexceptioninbeing

scoredforonesingerwithinstrumentalensembleasfollows147:

I. Mezzo-soprano,vibraphone,doublebass

II. Mezzo-soprano,flutes(oneplayer),percussion(oneplayer)

III. Mezzo-soprano,harp,percussion(oneplayer)

IV. Mezzo-soprano, flutes (one player), harp, double bass, percussion (one

player)

WhileCrumb’sMadrigalsareclearlynotacappella,beingconsortworksratherthanvocal

ensemble, each of the instrumental parts is equally important as the vocal line, so in

essence they each act as a ‘voice’ within the work. There is no clear melody or

accompanimentroles,whichstrengthensthelinktotheoriginalRenaissancemadrigal

form, which emphasized the equality of voices and moved away from the (usually)

sopranomelodyandlowervoiceaccompanimentrolesapparentintheearliersongform

ofthefrottola.Thisbreakingoftheacappellaformatofthemadrigalcanbeconsidered

assomewhatare-imaginingoftheidiom,withCrumbperhapsattemptingtoupdatethe

genreforthetwentiethcentury.

146Lauridsen,Madrigali.147Crumb,MadrigalsBookI.

83

Thedesignofmyownworks reflects theensemblenaturevaluedby theRenaissance

madrigalcomposers.Myfirstbook(MotionMadrigals)isscoredforfourvoicesacappella,

andisachievablewithasfewasfoursingersandasmanyas40,whilemysecondbookis

scoredforeightvoices,withmostmovementshavingbeensuccessfullyperformedbythe

eight-personensembleLuminescenceChamberSingers–andinfact,twoofthemadrigals

inthisbookwereconceivedforthisoctet.Thisfollowstheinstrumentationfavouredby

theearlymadrigal composers,both in termsofnumberof voiceparts, the sizeof the

ensemble,andtheunaccompaniednature.InasimilarveintotheRenaissancemadrigal

composers,thecomplexityofmymadrigalsisdictatedbytheperformersforwhomthey

are written; and indeed, the movements written expressly for the smallest group,

Luminescence (“The Leaves Drop Down” and “Stars”), are two of the most difficult

movements,asthesingersinthisgroupareveryaccomplishedandcapable.Inparticular,

“Stars”works extremelywellwith only one voice per part as it adds a clarity to the

intricateandinterweavinglinesthatismuchmoredifficulttoachievewithalargerchoir.

Thisisparticularlyevidentinbars49-53,wherethetreblepartshaveinterweavinglines

withtightharmonies(Figure63),whichlendsitselftosmallensemblesingingwell.

Figure63:“Stars”

ComparabletotheShankandLauridsencontemporarymadrigals,manyofmymadrigals

werewrittenwith larger choirs inmind – specifically, TheAustralianVoices and the

SydneyChamberChoir.Bothofthesegroupsaresemi-professional,andthereforeIwas

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Figure64:“Sleepless”–(bar52beginsatff)

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breakingthelinetobreathe(Figure65).Evenwithtwosopranosalternatingbreaths,this

wouldberatherdifficulttoachievewithoutthebreathsbeingobvioustothelistener.A

largerchoirachievesthismuchmoreeffectively,astheyhavetheabilitytostaggerbreath

imperceptibly.

Figure65:“Dew”

Perhapsthetechniquethatbenefitsmostsignificantly fromperformancebyanexpert

chamber choir is thatof thead libitum boxes,which Ihaveused in“TheLeavesDrop

Down”,“Sleepless”andbrieflyin“Beware”(Figure66toFigure68).Eachofthesethree

movementswerewrittenwithskilledensemblesinmind(Luminescence,TheAustralian

VoicesandGondwanaChoralerespectively).Thus,eventhoughthis techniquemaybe

86

moreeffectivewithmultiplesingersoneachpart,Iamstillkeepingwiththespiritofthe

madrigal being a type of work designed to be sung by and to an educated society.

Similarly, “Dew”was commissioned by the accomplished Sydney Chamber Choir, and

includessomecomplexpolyphonyandharmonicshiftsthatwouldbedifficultforaless

advancedchoirtoachieve.

Figure66:"TheLeavesDropDown"

87

Figure67:"Sleepless"

Figure68"Beware"

In analysing the contemporary case studies, and comparing them to the historical

examples,itisevidenttheensemblenatureofthemadrigalistheareathatcontemporary

composershave explored beyond the historical limitations significantly. It is perhaps

only important that there is a balance between parts – an ideal essential to the

Renaissance madrigalists – whether or not all these parts are indeed voices or

instruments.Thevalidityofthehistoricallysmallvocalensembleisalsochallengedinthe

contemporary case studies, thougheachof themodernexamples (includingmyown)

upholdthespiritofthemadrigalbeingmusicwrittenforandperformedbyaneducated

society.

88

5.2TextureThetextureofthemadrigalisoneoftheform’sdistinguishingfeatures,withequalityof

voices remaining an integral component even into the twentieth and twenty-first

centuries.Thisbalanceismostclearlyseeninthefrequentuseofpolyphonyseeninboth

traditional Renaissance madrigals and contemporary examples, and this use of

polyphonycanbeseenasadefiningcharacteristic.Renaissancemadrigalistswerealso

adept at blending textures, and often set important lines of text in a homophonic

“declamatory chordal style”.148Thisblendingof textureswasoftenused tomirror the

blending of gravity and charm in themadrigal texts.149The inclusion of polyphony is

important to the madrigal, as it is another element through which the Renaissance

madrigalists rebelled against the previous song form of the frottola, which often

consistedofthemelodylineinthetoppartwithahomophonicaccompanimentinthe

lowerparts(thusanunbalancedensemble).

Thisequalityofvoices,andablendingoftextures(includingpolyphony)canbeseenin

each of my madrigals. During the writing process, this was one of the features I

consideredtobethemostimportantwhenitcomestowhatconstitutesamadrigal.As

such,mywritingreflectsthisvalue.

AvarietyoftexturescanbeseenwithinMotionMadrigals,withtheprimaryonebeing

polyphony. In fact, in “The Dancer and the Runner”, there are only three phrases of

homophony (all of which utilise the idea of harmony as themelody, maintaining an

equalityofvoices–thistechniqueisdiscussedfurtherbelow),withtheremainderofthis

madrigalfeaturingapolyphonictexture.

Perhaps themost obvioususe of polyphony of the contemporary case studies in this

thesis occurs in Bryars’ madrigals. Throughout his second book, Bryars maintains a

balancebetweenthevoices.Forexample,inthesecondmadrigal,“Iosongiàstanco”,the

balanceisevidentthroughthesharingofthemelodicline,asitispassedupthroughthe

voices(Figure69,frombar8).Infact,thewholesecondmovementisagreatexampleof

148Fischeretal.“Madrigal”.149Ibid.

89

ablendingoftextures,equalvoicesandpolyphonictextures.Itmovesbetweenmoments

ofduets/trios(seetheopeningtrio,Figure70),toentirelyindependentparts(Figure71)

topassingalongamelodyline(Figure69).

I have replicated the technique of passing along a melody line in my third Motion

Madrigal, “The Dancer and the Runner”, which sees the openingmelodic line passed

downacrossthefourparts(Figure72).

Figure69:BryarsII.

Figure70:BryarsII.Opening

90

Figure71:BryarsII.

Figure72:"TheDancerandtheRunner"-opening

Bryars’ third madrigal also shows skilful polyphony; he layers and shifts between

texturesconstantlyandeffortlessly,alwaysmaintainingabalanceandequality. In the

example below (Figure 73), the different voices arewoven in and out of the texture,

sometimeswith rhythms liningupwith the other parts, and sometimeswith a slight

91

rhythmicdifference.This layeringandshiftingensures theear isneverdrawn toone

particularpart,butshiftsbetweenthemasanewvoiceisremovedortakenaway.

Figure73:BryarsIII.

MyMadrigalsofNature featurethisideaofblendedtextures,usingbothsinglemelody

lines,momentsof homophony and sectionsof polyphony. For example, exploring the

madrigal“Dew”showsexamplesofallthreeofthesetextures:

• Asinglemelodyline,heardinthesopranopartatbar68(Figure74);

• Ahomophonictexture,heardinthetenorandbasspartsinbar8(Figure75);

• Andapolyphonictexture,usedofteninthismadrigal,butperhapsmostapparent

during“thetangledweeds”sectionbeginningatbar21(Figure76).

92

Figure74:“Dew”

Figure75:“Dew”

93

Figure76:“Dew”

Incontrast,Lauridsenemploysamorefrequentuseofhomophonictextures,thoughhe

ensuresabalancebetweenthevoicesbyutilisingharmonyasthemelody,i.e.noonepart

isdominant,anditistheshiftingbetweenchordswhichcreatesthe“melody”.Lauridsen

frequently uses the declamatory chordal style, which Raybon refers to as “choral

recitative” or “samenote declamation”150, in order to emphasize certain lines of text.

Thesepassagesconsistofonechord,whichisthenrepeatedintherhythmofthetext,

withminimalmovement,tocreatean“earthy”soundappropriateforthetext,suchasin

the example below (Figure 77). Lauridsen maintains an expert balance between

expressingthetext(theimportanceofwhichisdiscussedinChapter3)andanequality

ofvoices,evenwhenusingamorehomophonicstyleinordertoemphasizecertainlyric

phrases.

150Raybon,“Oldformnewlyclothed”,12.

94

Figure77:LauridsenI.Opening

Oneofhismorepolyphonicmovementsisthefifthsong,Lucesereneechiare.Aclearuse

ofpolyphonycanbeseenintheopeningsection(Figure78).Thismovementalsouses

the technique of one part starting alone on a long, held note (often the tonic or the

dominant).Thissets the tonalityandallows for theothervoices to tune to the single

voice,whichisthefastestandeasiestwayforanensembletofindthecorrecttonality.

ThisisadevicecommonlyusedinRenaissancemadrigals,suchastheopeningmovement

ofMonteverdi’sSestina151(Figure79).Thisisanespeciallyusefuldevicewhensingingin

asmallensemble,withthelayeringofpartsdrawingtheeartoeachnewentry,balancing

itacrosstheensemble,ratherthanallowingittostaywiththeoriginalvoice.

Ihaveemployedthisdevicein“TheSpinningWheel”,“Sleepless”and“Beware”,eachof

whichstartswithasinglepart(ortwointhecaseof“Sleepless”)singingasinglenote

whichisthenusedbytherestoftheensembleasatuningandreferencepoint(Figure24,

Figure30andFigure80).Theotherpartsarethenlayeredoverthetopofthesefirstparts,

creatingabalancebetweenvoices.

151Monteverdi,Claudio.InceneriteSpoglie.EditedbyMassimoLombardi,(1614)2005.http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/1/14/Sestina_-_01_-_Incenerite_Spoglie.pdf.

95

Figure78:LauridsenV.

Figure79:Monteverdi,InceneriteSpoglie(SestinaI)

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Figure80:"Beware"–opening

LikeLauridsen,Shankalsousesthetechniqueofharmonyasmelody,witheachofthe

voicesbeingequal;thoughhedoesemploymoretraditionalpolyphonythanLauridsen.

Take for example the first song, Serpents in red roses hissing, which begins with the

declamatorychordalstyleandthenalternatesbetweentheupperandlowervoicesina

polyphonicmanner(Figure81),allthewhilemaintainingabalancebetweenvoices.This

alternating between upper and lower voices has precedence in the Renaissance

madrigals,suchasinMarenzio’sVeggo,dolcemiobene152(Figure82),whichpassesthe

text“Nelvolger”and“unvivolume”betweenthetwohalvesoftheensemble.

Ihavedemonstratedthetechniqueofharmonyactingasthemelodyin“Beware”(Figure

12),usingahomophonic texturewithdissonantchords,withnoclearmelodic line, to

maintainabalancebetweenthevoiceswhilealsoexpressingthemeaningofthetext(the

importanceofwhichisdiscussedinChapter3).

152Marenzio,Luca.Veggo,DolceMioBene.EditedbyAllenGarvin,(1585)2012.http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/9/9f/03-marenzio-a4-madrigal-score.pdf.

97

Figure81:ShankI.

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98

Figure82:Marenzio,Veggodolcemiobene

InanothersimilaritytoRenaissancemadrigals,Shankusesthetechniqueofdelayingthe

bassentry,ascanbeseeninbars49–57(Figure83).Thistechniquewasusedbyboth

Marenzio in theopeningofSoloepensoso153(Figure84),andbyArcadelt in Ilbiancoe

dolcecigno(Figure85).Bydelayingthebassentry,thesecomposerscreateachangein

texturebothbyaddinganextravoice,andbyexpandingtheregistersheard.

153Marenzio,Luca.SoloePensoso.EditedbyJoachimThomas,(1599)2011.http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/e/e8/Marenzio%2C_Solo_e_pensoso.pdf.

99

Figure83:ShankI.Bars47–52

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100

Figure84:Marenzio,Soloepensoso

Figure85:Arcadelt,Ilbianco

This delaying of the bass entry could also be considered as a blending of textures, a

commonfeatureofRenaissancemadrigals.Thisblendingoftextureswasoftenusedto

create a blending of gravity and charm,154 and mirrors the duality common tomany

154Fenlonetal.“Madrigal”.

Luca Marenzio: Solo e pensoso

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101

madrigaltexts(refer toChapter2).Thiscanbeseen inMonteverdi’sCrudelPerchemi

fuggi155,wherethephrase“S’haidelamortemiatantodesio”(‘ifyoudesiremydeath’)

mixesahomophonictextureinbar18,thenmovesintoapolyphonictexturefrombar19

(Figure86).Thisparallelsthecontrastbetweenthegravityofdeath(‘morte’)withthe

moredelicatesettingofdesire(‘desio’).Shankemploysasimilartechniqueinhisfourth

madrigal,Yellowbroomsandcoldmushrooms.Hebeginswithimitativepolyphonyforthe

“boisterous” sounding opening (“whence came ye jolly Satyrs”), and then moves to

homophonyforrepetitionofthewords“whencecameye”,whichcreatesamuchmore

seriousandcontemplativetone(Figure87).

IhaveusedthisdelayedbassentrytechniqueatfigureEin“Sleepless”inordertosurprise

thelistenerwithasuddenincreaseinregisters(Figure88).

Figure86:Monteverdi,Crudelperchemifuggi

155Monteverdi,Claudio.Crudel,PerchéMiFuggi?EditedbyVincentCarpentier,(1590)2011.http://www1.cpdl.org/wiki/images/3/3d/Monte-2-17.pdf.

102

Figure87:ShankIV.

Figure88:“Sleepless”

103

This equality of voices, so integral to the Renaissance madrigalists, is perhaps more

difficulttodiscerninthemadrigalsofCrumb.Itwouldbeeasytomistakethesolovocalist

asthemostimportantcomponentoftheensemble(asisthecaseinmanyensembleswith

only one singer), however, Crumb’s treatment of both the soprano and the

instrumentalistsmaintainsabalanceandequalitythroughout.Forexample,ratherthan

always using lyrics, Crumb gives the soprano nonsense syllables in order to create a

percussiveeffect.ThiscanbeseeninthefirstsongofBookI,wherethesopranoisgiven

thetext“tai-o:ti;k!tai-o:to:k!...”(Figure89).Thisinstrumentaltreatmentofthevoice

meansthesopranolineisnomoreimportantthanthatoftheinstruments.However,a

singerisstillessentialtohisensembleasitconveystheLorcatext.

Additionally,Crumbshifts the focusbetweenthedifferent instruments frequentlyand

seamlessly,andassuchmaintainsanequalitybetweentheparts.AstudybyPennington

(1996)abouttheuseofpercussionwithintheCrumbmadrigalsobservesthistechnique:

Often,therearehierarchiesofsololines,whichareconstantlychangingindegree

offocusandsignificance.Whatbeginsasasecondarymusical linemaybecome

primary or tertiary. The shifting of voices into other levels of this hierarchy

progressessothat,atanygivenpoint,anyoneofthemmaybecometheprimary

voice.156

ThisshiftingofthefocuscanbeseeninSongIII.Notonlyisthemusicshiftedbetweenthe

instruments,butthevibraphonistphysicallywalkstothedoublebassandplaysonsome

of its strings (Figure 90). This visually represents the shifting of focus between the

instruments.

156Pennington,JohnCharles.“AnExaminationofthePercussionWritinginGeorgeCrumb’s‘Madrigals,BooksIthroughIV.’”ProQuestDissertationsandTheses.ArizonaStateUniversity,1996.http://ezproxy.library.usyd.edu.au/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/304235424?accountid=14757.36.

104

Figure89:CrumbI.

105

Crumb’s use of polyphony throughout his madrigals is emphasized by his frequent

layeringofdifferenttimesignatures.ThiscanbeseeninthesecondsongofBookI,inthe

“Rain-deathmusic”.Here,thedoublebassisplayingin5,whilethevibraphoneisin4,

and the tempos are carefully selected such that the first beat of each bar in both

instrumentslineup(Figure91).Bylayeringthesedifferenttimesignatures,“thetexture

remainssparse,buttheattacksofeachnote—ofeachraindrop—moveinandoutofsync

witheachothertocreateamuchlessmetricalsound,whichseemstruertonature.”157

Thisrealisticemulationof thesoundofraincanbeconsideredpolyphonic,as thetwo

partsrarelyalignbeats,letalonematerial.ThesevarioustechniquesemployedbyCrumb,

whilenotimmediatelyasclearassomeoftheothercasestudies,showhismadrigalsdo

indeedmaintainabalanceandequalityofvoices.

Figure90:CrumbIII.

157Fleming,“LorcacyclesofCrumb”,40.

106

Figure91:CrumbII.

107

Ligeti’suseofpolyphonycanbeseenclearly in the firstof theNonsenseMadrigals.As

discussedinChapter1,thealtossingamelodybasedon“TheDreamofaGirlWhoLived

atSevenOaks”,andthebaritones’melodyisbasedon“TheDreamofaBoyWhoLivedat

Nine-Elms”,withthetenor“Twinkle,twinklelittlestar”actingasthecentralfulcrum.The

independenceofthesemelodiclinesisfurtheremphasizedbytheuseofdifferenttime

signaturesforeachofthevoicesectionslayeredontopofeachother.

Ligeti’sfamoususeofthetechniquehecalls“micropolyphony”isanexcellentexampleof

abalancebetweenvoices.Thistechniquediffersfromtraditionalpolyphonybycreating

a“soundmass”from“tightlywovenchromaticlines”,158suchthatthelistenerhearsthe

overalltextureasopposedtothelayeringofindependentmelodiclines.

Similarities can be drawn between this technique and Renaissance polyphony. Ligeti

himselfcomparesmicropolyphonytoRenaissancepolyphony,“especiallythedenseand

seamlesscanonicwritingofOckeghem”,159acomposerheisespeciallydrawnto“because

hismusicdoesnottendtowardsculminatingpoints.Justasonevoiceapproachesaclimax

another voice comes to counteract it, like waves in the sea”. 160 The third Nonsense

Madrigal,“TheAlphabet”isaclearuseofthemicropolyphonytechnique,withtheslow

shiftthroughthepartsandthecreationofanaural“soundmass”asaresultofmoving

lines (Figure 92). The aural effect of “TheAlphabet”,while verymuch belonging to a

twentiethcenturyharmoniclanguage,issimilartotheauraleffectcreatedbyOckeghem

inhis36-partcanonDeoGratias(Figure93).161

158Malfatti,“AnAnalysisofLigeti”,9.159Ibid.160LigetiquotedinMalfatti,“AnAnalysisofLigeti”,9.161Ockeghem,Johannes.DeoGratias.EditedbySabineCassola,(1568)2013.http://www1.cpdl.org/wiki/images/6/63/Ockeghem_Deo_Gratia_a36_Partitur_.pdf.

108

Figure92:LigetiIII.

109

Figure93:Ockeghem,DeoGratias

Throughahistorical-comparativeanalysisofthetextureofmadrigals,manysimilarities

canbedrawnbetweenRenaissanceexamplesandthecontemporarypieces,witheachof

thecasestudies incorporatingavarietyof texturesthroughout.Thisstrengthenstheir

inclusion within the definition of the madrigal, and thus the need for an updated

definition.Deemingablendoftexturestobeanimportantcharacteristicofthemadrigal,

Idesignedmyownbookswiththisinmind,demonstratingsectionsofdifferenttextures

includingasinglemelodyline,homophonyandpolyphony.

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Johannes Ockeghem: Deo gratias a 36 voci

110

Chapter6:TheCreativeProcess

My interest invocalmusicstemsfrommypracticeasachoralsingerandconductor. I

grewupperforminginhighlevelchoirs(SydneyChildren’sChoirandGondwanaVoices)

andhavesinceprogressedtosinginginadvancedensemblessuchastheLuminescence

Chamber Singers and The Australian Voices, and conducting groups such as the

Kompactus Youth Choir. These experiences inform my compositional process in a

substantialway.

Being involved in the process of bringing a newwork to life at every step, from the

conceptionofanidea,towriting,workshopping,editingandfinallyperformingthework

isanexcellentmethodofcomposing.Icreatedmanyofmymadrigalswithspecificgroups

Iworkwithinmind.Forexample,AutumnSadnesswaswrittenforKompactus,agroupI

conduct. As I have been working with this choir for many years, I know what the

capabilitiesandstrengthsofthegroupare.Kompactushasstrongaltosingers,andbeing

analtomyself–apartoftenrelegatedtosinging‘theleftovernotes’–Imadeapointof

creatinginterestingandchallenginglinesforthealtostosing.Forexample,Ihavegiven

the altos theopeningmelody (Figure 94). Additionally, knowingKompactus excels at

tightharmonies,Iwrotethesectioninthemiddlewhichuseschordswithmanyseconds

andsevenths(Figure95).

Ihadasimilarexperienceinwriting“Stars”forLuminescence,agroupIsinginregularly.

In this octet, the fourwomen aremore accomplished singers than themen, and this

informedmywriting.Thisismostevidentwhencomparingtheintricate,interweaving

linesofthetreblesectionatbar49withthetenorandbasssectionatbar54,whichuses

amuchsimplerrhythm,ahomophonic textureandconsonantharmonies (Figure96).

Additionally, I was careful about the ranges used for each of the eight singers. For

example, Iwasable toalsotakeadvantageofbothof thesopranoshavingstronghigh

notes,writingatopBflatinsoprano1andatopAinsoprano2,bothofwhichwouldnot

bemanageablebyalessablechoir.

111

Figure94:AutumnSadness

Figure95:AutumnSadness

112

Ihadadifferentexperiencewriting“Sleepless”forTheAustralianVoices.Thisisagroup

Ioccasionallysingwith,butastheyarebasedinBrisbaneIamunabletorehearsewith

them regularly, and only join them a few days before a performance. In writing

“Sleepless”,IknewTAVisverygoodatraw,earthysoundsandsoItookadvantageofthis

bywritingtheopeningsectionwhichbuildsanatmosphereoffrustrationfollowedbya

section of tension (“wind in a tight drawnwire”)with loud dynamics and dissonant

harmonies. I was able to hear this song in the final rehearsals before the premiere

performanceandmakesomesmalladjustments(suchastempos,balancebetweenparts

anddynamiclevels).

Incontrast,IhadnodirectinputwiththeSydneyChamberChoirduringtheirrehearsal

ofthemadrigal“Dew”.Thispiecewascommissionedbythechoir,andwhileIhadheard

themsingbeforeandwasincontactwiththeirconductors162duringboththewritingand

rehearsalprocess,Ididnothearthechoirsingingituntiltheperformance.Thiswasan

excellentwaytoseeifthescorespokeforitself,andifthechoircouldaccuratelyrealise

themusicasIheardit.

The research conducted as part of this thesis is complementary to the compositional

process.Asexplainedintheanalysischapters,thecompositionofbooksofmadrigalsare

specificallydesignedtoserveasamodelforthecontemporarymadrigal,withtheanalysis

ofthedifferentelementsofthemadrigalshapingmyunderstandingandresponsetothe

definition.

162TheperformancewasconductedbymysupervisorPaulStanhope.

113

Figure96"Stars"

114

Conclusion

By conducting a historical-comparative analysis of contemporary and Renaissance

madrigals,itisclearthereisaproblemwiththeoverlyhistoriciseddefinitionofmadrigal

which persists in the literature; madrigals written after the Renaissance period are

ignored.However,thereisacollectionofcomposersfromthetwentiethandtwenty-first

centurieswhohavewrittenpiecestheyhaveexplicitlycalled“madrigal”whichneedto

beconsideredwithinthedefinitionofitsessentialelements.

Throughananalysisofthecurrentliterature,thisthesisdeterminedthedefiningfeatures

ofthemadrigalconsistof:

1. Text:

1.1. Thesecularnatureofthetextsused

1.2. Theimportanceofexpressingtheemotionandmeaninginthetextthrough

themusic,withanemphasisonthebalancebetweentextandmusic(including

adualityofmeaningsandmadrigalisms)

2. Structure/books:

2.1. Throughcomposedwithalackoflarge-scaleformalstructure,duetothe

choiceofamorefreestyleofpoetry

2.2. Thegroupingintobooks,generallygroupedbythematiccontent,narrative,

ortextand/orpoet

3. Music:

3.1. The ensemble nature of the madrigal, with most madrigals being

unaccompanied

3.2. Apolyphonicstylewhereeachvoiceisequal

Eachoftheseelementscanbeseenwithinthefivecontemporarycasestudiesanalysed

in this thesis, with three of the composers (Bryars, Lauridsen and Shank) aligning

themselves strongly with the madrigalists of the Renaissance; and two composers

(CrumbandLigeti)pushingtheboundariesofwhatconstitutesamadrigalthroughtheir

choice of instrumentation (Crumb), and in Ligeti’s case, his choice of “text” without

meaning (seen in the thirdmovement, “TheAlphabet”, contradicting themadrigalists

idealofexpressionoftext),andthroughallusionstohistoricalsongformsotherthanthe

115

madrigal. Interestingly, Lauridsen chooses to use large-scale repetition, breaking the

through-composedstructurefavouredbyRenaissancemadrigalists.However,hisclear

attempttoalignhimselftothesecomposersthroughhischoiceoftexts–selectingthose

thatwere originally set by Renaissance composers in their ownmadrigals – and his

choiceofatheme–thatfitswithinthetopicsoftenpresentedbyRenaissancecomposers

–allowshisFiresongstositcomfortablywithinwhatcanbeconsideredacontemporary

exampleofthemadrigal.

Byre-definingtheelementsofthemadrigal,itenablestremendousscopeforcomposers

toexplorethisforminaspiritofrenewal.Ihaveusedboththehistoricalprecedenceand

thecontemporaryexamplesasaspring-boardformyowncreativeresponse.Usingthe

concept of design as a way of knowing, I have modelled what a response to the

contemporarydefinitionmaylooklike,respondingtothethreemajorcomponentsofthe

definition.TheformofthemadrigalhasallowedmetoexplorethevocalwritingIenjoy:

theincorporationoftextsrichinmeaningandimagery,andusingelementssuchasword

painting,andavarietyofcomplextexturestoexpressthismeaning.

Ihaveselectedseculartextsthatnotonlypresentadualityofmeaning,butthatfitwithin

two themes, one for each of my two books, giving a sense of unity to each book.

Furthermore,Ihaveuseddevicessuchaswordpainting,ormadrigalisms,toexpressthe

meaningofthetexts.

Determining that the through-composed structure of the madrigal is an important

convention, Ihave followedthis ineachofmymadrigals.Suchthat,uponreflection, it

becameapparentAutumnSadness–asongoriginallyintendedtobelongtotheMadrigals

ofNatureset–nolongerrepresentedthemadrigalandthuswasexcludedfromthefinal

book.

Additionally,mymadrigalsarealldesignedtobeachievablewithasmallerensemble.

Whilemysecondbook,MadrigalsofNature,mayattimesbenefitfrombeingperformed

byalargerensemble,theyhonourthespiritoftheRenaissancemadrigalistsinthatthey

includesomeadvancedtechniquesandthereforerequiremusicallyeducatedsingersto

beabletocompetentlyperformthem.

116

Byconsideringboththecontemporarycasestudiesexamined,andtakingmytwobooks

as examples of madrigals which reflect the established principles of the historical

madrigal,itiscleartoseeanupdateddefinitionofthemadrigal,whilenotonlynecessary,

canbeachievedbyrespondinginacreativesensetotheguidelinesasestablishedabove.

Furtherstudiescouldsurveycontemporarycasestudiesthat,althoughnotmadrigalsby

name, fit the definition of the madrigal, thus expanding the pool of contemporary

composerswhocanbecalledmadrigalist.

117

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