Throughout the ageless phenomenon humans call music; there have been many different genres and many different musical explorations. Some of which have vanished, and some of which stuck around for hundreds of years. In Italy, Madrigals, which are secular songs written to poems, were among these styles that were very popular and growing in popularity in secular music. In the 1600’s, these were used for patronage and parties. In England, however, there was a similar process being used. These were works written in English, and had a very satirical over sight that allowed for entertainment and fun. While these are still considered madrigals, they have many hints of being the first signs of musical theater and satirical opera. The form, musical ideas, and stories all play a large role in late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century madrigals; which makes it very close to the modern days musical. In this essay, I will not only be comparing the early madrigal with the opera and modern day musical theater, I will be taking you through a series of decades where we will see the madrigal give birth to our beloved Broadway musicals.…show more content… The madrigal wasn’t truly defined until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. During these centuries, the madrigal slowly attained the definition of a performance of numerous types and forms of secular verse. In the early years of the madrigal, it was a much more serious form, much of which was the courtly love poetry of Petrarch, whom was gaining popularity in the early fifteenth century, even though he died in the late fourteenth century. The madrigal was a musical revolution in a way because it allowed for even the most god pleasing composers, to write secular, well-composed pieces in a different character, which in return made for more creative
