Il Bianco E Dolce Cigno

Seen most commonly as a form of art and expression, the power of communication in music is often overlooked. Although music is art and very expressive, in addition, it’s constructs encompass the many ways in which music attempts to convey messages. Music is a form of a communication. One of the earliest techniques composers used to convey messages in music was through word painting. During the renaissance period composers used word painting, a technique in which the music depicts images that the text describes or evokes the mood of the text to powerfully communicate the message in the music. Throughout the sixteenth century the complexity of word painting changed in madrigalists’ works. Using the pieces Il bianco e dolce cigno by Jacques Arcadelt,

ca. 1538, Solo e pensoso by Luca Marenzo, 1590s, and ‘Io parto’, e non piu dissi by Carlo Gesualdo, c.

1600, the complexity of word painting will be examined through their use of musical textures, qualities, and rhythms to observe how word painting changed throughout the sixteenth century.

This section will compare the quantity of musical qualities used in Arcadelt, Marenso and Gesialdo’s music to demonstrate how the complexity of word painting grew throughout the sixteenth century. Often times the lyrics of pieces affected the madrigalists’ choice of musical qualities they used to convey the text in a piece. Word painting in Arcadelt’s Il bianco e dolce cigno is demonstrated through his use tonality. In mm. 1-15 the text says,“The white and gentle swan dies singing, and I, weeping, approach the end of my life.” Immediately at the beginning of the piece we experience the major feeling key that portrays the euphemism of the swans death, which signifies climaxed love. This is emphasized even further in measure m. 15 with the strong V-I cadence of the four voices in F major, setting the piece in a happy tone. This compares to Solo e pensoso in that they both use tonality as a musical quality but Marenzo uses the contrast between major and minor

sounding keys to better convey his lyrics in addition to chromaticism. Il bianco e dolce cigno stays mostly in a major key throughout the whole piece while Solo e pensoso switches between minor and major, changes tempos throughout and uses chromaticism. In the beginning of the piece this is observable in the word painting in mm. 1-33. “Alone and pensive the deserted fields I measure with steps deliberate and slow, and my eyes I hold in readiness to flee.” Marenzo uses a minor sounding tonality to express desertedness and chromaticism in the soprano voice to convey being alone. The soprano continuously moves by a half step in sustained whole-notes that also depict lyrics “slow and deliberate. Contrastingly, in mm. 25-33 the voices quicken and tempo and the tone switches to major to convey the readiness to flee in almost a happy way. ‘Io parto’, e non piu dissi comparatively uses more major and minor key contrast, switches tempos more often and uses more chromaticism throughout the piece than Solo e pensoso and Il bianco e dolce cigno. This is clear throughout the piece especially at the end mm.29-43 when the tempo changes from fast to slow and the tone changes from major to minor sounding when saying “alive” versus “pitiable”. Through the madrigalists’ different uses of musical qualities such as tonality, tempos and chromaticism, the change in complexity of word painting is everpresent.
By Analyzing the textures used in ‘Io parto’, e non piu dissi and Solo e pensoso and Il bianco e dolce cigno, this section will establish the change in the complexity in madrigalists’ word painting in the sixteenth century. In all three pieces there are two main textures that are used to convey word painting in music, homophony, when the voices move together in a chordal since and imitation, when the voices imitate each other in repetitive schemas. Il bianco e dolce cigno compares to the pieces Io parto’, e non piu dissi and Solo e pensoso in that it is mainly homophonic than the other two and make more use of imitation and alternate between imitation and homophony. Although Il bianco e dolce cigno is mainly homophonic imitation helps to depict the text in its word painting this is observable in mm. 15-33 when the texture switched from very stable homophonic to less stable imitative when describing, “Strange and diverse fates, that he dies disconsolate and I die happy” similar to the text the texture oddly switches to imitative. In addition, in mm. 34-end the imitation is very repetitive and demonstrates “I would be content to die a thousand times a day” accordingly. Similarly, Solo e pensoso uses imitative texture to convey the text in mm. 88-95, “So I have come to believe that the mountains and beaches and rivers and woods”. Specifically in mm. 93-98 the rivers are depicted by the voices singing ascending eighth notes notes in the span of an sixth beginning in quintes voice then followed by the tenor, alto and soprano. Lastly, ‘Io parto’, e non piu dissi uses a combination of homophony and imitation to word paint throughout the piece. In mm. 7-17 this is most visible when the music goes from imitative when the text says “robbed my heart of life” to express this dramatic phrase to homophonic in saying “then” to express excitement, and then back to imitative to express how “Clari broke out into tears”. The imitation in mm.13-17 starts with the soprano and is followed by the tenor alto and other voices to express the tears. Il bianco e dolce cigno which is a madgrigal piece from the earlier sixteenth century, compares to the later composed sixteeth pieces ‘Io parto’, e non piu dissi and Solo e pensoso in that it uses less imitation. The more frequent use of imitation and mix of homophony and imitation in the late sixteenth century pieces conveys a change in complexity of word painting among madrigalists’ at the time.
To further explore how complexity in word painting changed over the sixteenth century, this section will explore how the use of rhythms significantly changes in each piece.

Briefly touched on in the two previous paragraphs, rhythms play a major role in word painting to illustrate lyrics. The complexity of the rhythms in the three pieces starts as more simplistic in the earliest composed piece and progresses to complex as the pieced in the later sixteenth century pieces are composed. The simplistic rhythms in early word painting are evident when looking at mm. 1-15 in Il bianco e dolce cigno. The rhythms are mostly half and quarter notes the half notes are mainly used to emphasize important words. This can be observed accordingly when words such as “weeping” and “dies” occur on half notes. The complexity of rhythms used to emphasize words builds in the later composed piece Solo e pensoso, with more use of eight notes and notes and contrasting rhythm sections that go from just half notes to many eighth notes to now illustrate words such as “readiness to flee” in mm. 26-31. Finally, in ‘Io parto’, e non piu dissi the rhythms used to portray word painting are very complex and alternate almost every six measures to communicate the lyric stanzas musically, also the sixteenth notes are now frequently used. In mm. 26-37 these aspects are evident in communicating the text “in sad laments.” Dead was I, now I am alive, for my spent spirits.” The rhythm transitions from using mainly

whole, dotted quarter and quarter notes to mainly eighth and sixteenth notes to convey liveliness. In analyzing ‘Io parto’, e non piu dissi, Solo e pensoso and Il bianco e dolce cigno, the complexity in madrigalists’ word painting changed through their variability in the use of rhythms to word paint throughout the sixteenth century.
In conclusion, madrigalists’ word painting changed as the level of complexity used in their work increased throughout the sixteenth century. Although word painting is used in both the early and late sixteenth century pieces, mechanisms such as varied tonalities, tempos, textures, and rhythms are used more in the later composed pieces Solo e pensoso and ‘Io parto’, e non piu dissi than in Il bianco e dolce cigno which is more simplistic. The frequent use and variability of these musical aspects to word paint in late sixteenth century pieces shows a significant change in the complexity of madrigalists’ word painting and exhibits the many ways in which music can be a form of communication.