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The term '''madrigal''' can refer to two distinct forms of song:  

The term '''madrigal''' can refer to two distinct forms of song:  

(1) An unaccompanied song that was briefly popular in [[Italy]] during the 14th century. Texts were set to two or three free parts (“free” in that all parts were able to harmonise, instead of there being a set (usually high-voiced) melodic line with the others supplying the harmony.) The texts were nearly always secular, usually of a light manner; pastoral, amorous, or even bawdy. It seems to have been extinct by the middle of the 15th century. Less than 200 examples survive.  

(1) An unaccompanied song that was briefly popular in [[Italy]] during the 14th century. Texts were set to two or three free parts (“free” in that all parts were able to harmonise, instead of there being a set (usually high-voiced) melodic line with the others supplying the harmony.) The texts were nearly always [[secular]] even [[vernacular]], usually of a light manner; pastoral, amorous, or even bawdy. It seems to have been extinct by the middle of the 15th century. Less than 200 examples survive.  

(2) The term re-emerged in Italy in about 1530 to describe verse of a style and imagery that had been used by [[Petrarch]]. The seriousness of these texts and their refinement required similar properties in their musical settings. The contemporary song-type, the [[frottola]], was not suitable.  

(2) The term re-emerged in Italy in about 1530 to describe verse of a style and imagery that had been used by [[Petrarch]]. The seriousness of these texts and their refinement required similar properties in their musical settings. The contemporary song-type, the [[frottola]], was not suitable.  

The new form was first developed, partly by [[Flemish]] composers working in northern Italy, but also by the Italians themselves, as secular choral pieces, similar to the French chanson, but also taking some stylistic elements from the contemporary [[motet]]. During the rest of the 16th century, under the influence of the greatest composers of the age, the madrigal would grow and change and develop, until under the masterfully original hands of [[Carlo Gesualdo]] and [[Claudio Monteverdi]] in particular, the form moved out of what is generally thought of as [[Renaissance]] vocal chamber music (somewhat like a string quartet or quintet today with one voice per part) into the [[Baroque period (music)|Baroque]]. Instrumental accompaniment was introduced during the first few decades of the 17th century and the form began to become indistinguishable from the [[cantata]].  

The new form was first developed, partly by [[Flemish]] composers working in northern Italy, but also by the Italians themselves, as secular choral pieces, similar to the French [[chanson]], but also taking some stylistic elements from the contemporary [[motet]]. During the rest of the 16th century, under the influence of the greatest composers of the age, the madrigal would grow and change and develop, until under the masterfully original hands of [[Carlo Gesualdo]] and [[Claudio Monteverdi]] in particular, the form moved out of what is generally thought of as [[Renaissance]] vocal [[chamber music]] (somewhat like a string quartet or quintet today with one voice per part) into the [[Baroque period (music)|Baroque]]. Instrumental accompaniment was introduced during the first few decades of the 17th century and the form began to become indistinguishable from the [[cantata]].  

Late in the 1500s the madrigal arrived in [[England]] and forms the base for the flourishing of English song that has continued into modern times. Originally domestic music – that is, music intended to be performed in the home for the entertainment of family and friends, and for the pleasure of the performers as much as the listeners – it grew on the unparalleled richness and refinement of English [[poetry]] of that age of Shakespeare.  

Late in the 1500s the madrigal arrived in [[England]] and forms the base for the flourishing of English song that has continued into modern times. Originally domestic music – that is, music intended to be performed in the home for the entertainment of family and friends, and for the pleasure of the performers as much as the listeners – it grew on the unparalleled richness and refinement of English [[poetry]] of that age of Shakespeare.