The change in the social function of…
1599 CE
The change in the social function of the madrigal at the end of the sixteenth century contributes to its development into new dramatic forms.
Since its invention, it has served two principal roles: as a pleasant private entertainment for small groups of skilled amateur musicians; and as an adjunct to large ceremonial public performances.
The first use, the private one, is by far the most common throughout the life of the madrigal, and it is through these enthusiastic gatherings of amateurs that the madrigal has acquired its fame.
However, in the last two decades of the century, virtuoso professional singers have begun to replace amateurs, and composers write music for them of greater dramatic force.
Not only is this music harder to sing, but the sentiments expressed tend to require soloists rather than equal members of an ensemble in order to be dramatically convincing.
Also during this period a division between performers and passive audiences—not the large audiences present at a public ceremonial spectacle, as seen earlier in the century, but relatively small, intimate gatherings, with performers and listeners, a situation recognizably modern—began to be seen, especially in such progressive cultural centers as Ferrara and ...
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Southwest Europe
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