The Madrigals of Gioseffo Zarlino (1517-1590): A Descriptive Analysis Of Their Musical Expression and Text Underlay

Abstract

The Renaissance theorist Gioseffo Zarlino and his theoretical treatise Le istitutioni harmoniche were a vital link to the future of theory. His polyphonic music and ten text underlay rules are representative of the new music of the Venetian School, which was headed by his mentor Adrian Willaert. Examination of Zarlino's thirteen extant madrigals provides us with a direct example of these rules and the secular style of the Venetian School, who strived to elevate their secular works to that of sacred music. The style was inspired by Pietro Bembo's Petrarchan revival, in which Renaissance composers utilized medieval Petrarchan texts or wrote new texts in the Petrarchan style. The texts were set to music which was composed to express the emotions of the texts. Zarlino accomplished this through the selection of major, minor, and diminished sonorities, which began the move to major-minor tonality in the history of Western music.