Madrigalism
Tone-painting depiction of words in the madrigal.
What it means
Madrigalism designates the musical depiction of individual words or images of the text. If the speech rises to heaven, the melody rises; if pain is spoken of, a dissonance appears; with haste, short note values run, with death and silence a rest or a held note. The name comes from the madrigal, in which the procedure had its heyday, but it is encountered equally in sacred music and far beyond the sixteenth century.
In the notation
Such places are recognizable by the fact that the musical event changes noticeably at a single word: a sudden change of note values, a leap, an unusual harmony, a rest in the middle of a phrase. Sometimes the depiction is visible only in the notation and hardly audible, for instance when black note values are set for night or mourning — a device meant for the singer.
Musical use
Behind the procedure stands the view that music should interpret the text like a speech. It is closely connected with musical rhetoric, which knows fixed figures for particular expressive intentions. The danger of exaggeration was already seen at the time of its origin: where every word is individually depicted, the line falls apart. The most convincing examples combine the individual depiction with an overarching arc, so that the movement as a whole remains intact.
Performance practice
When studying, look deliberately for such places and clarify which word is meant; without understanding the text, they go unnoticed. Shape them clearly but without tearing apart the phrase — usually a small change of colour or time suffices. Take care to sing the text with particular clarity at these places. With dissonant turns, practise the chords slowly for intonation, so that the effect does not arise from impurity instead of the harmony.
Bear in mind that the procedure is encountered in sacred music just as much as in the secular madrigal and remains effective well into the eighteenth century: whoever understands it only as a peculiarity of one period will miss it elsewhere. Check for every text which words are musically highlighted.