Basilica of Saint Mark

In the Middle Ages, more traveling took place than we thought. Did you know that the Flemish Adriaen Willaert from Rumbeke was the chapel master of the San Marco Basilica for thirty-five years? A chapel master is someone who leads the performance of music. Flanders was at the top when it came to music production. Adriaen Willaert is regarded as the central figure of the Venetian school and a pioneer of the Italian madrigal. A madrigal is a secular predominantly vocal musical form, which emerged in Northern Italy in the 14th century. The term madrigal probably comes from the Latin matricale (mother tongue), meaning Italian instead of Latin at that time. We encounter madrigals in three different periods of music history: in the medieval Italian Trecento music, in the Renaissance, and finally in the Baroque. Today, the madrigals from the Renaissance are the most well-known; it was also by far the most important and popular vocal form of this time. The madrigal was most popular among Italian (Trecento and Italian Renaissance), Flemish (Renaissance), and English (Baroque) composers.

Pascal Brackman