CHAPTER 17 Singing in Friendship: The Renaissance Madrigal
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following best characterizes secular music-making in the Renaissance?
a. Most prosperous homes had a lute or a keyboard instrument.
b. Music was often sung in parts.
c. All the answers shown here.
d. Music-making at home became increasingly popular.
2. The expressive device that Renaissance composers used to pictorialize words musically is called
a. word-painting. c. imagery.
b. a cappella. d. chromaticism.
3. Which of the following was the MOST important secular genre of the sixteenth century?
a. the galliard c. the madrigal
b. the chanson d. the ronde
4. Where was the madrigal first developed?
a. England c. France
b. Italy d. Germany
5. The vivid depiction of a text through music, known as word-painting, is a hallmark of the
a. madrigal. c. motet.
b. chanson. d. anthem.
6. Madrigals with simpler and more accessible texts were especially favored in
a. Germany. c. France.
b. Italy. d. England.
7. Which of the following best describes the character of Farmer’s Fair Phyllis?
a. devotional and moralizing c. pastoral and light
b. courtly and idealized d. bombastic and heavy
8. Claudio Monteverdi was a composer born in
a. France. c. Germany.
b. Italy. d. England.
9. Which composer claimed that “the text should be the master of the music, not the servant”?
a. Claudio Monteverdi c. John Farmer
b. Guillaume de Machaut d. Hildegard of Bingen
10. Madrigals were sung as chamber music, with the singers reading from
a. sheet music. c. a score.
b. a part book. d. None of the answers shown here.
11. Who was one of the MOST important English madrigal composers?
a. John Farmer c. William Shakespeare
b. Claudio Monteverdi d. Edmund Spenser
12. English madrigals included refrain syllables such as
a. “fa la la.” c. “shoobe-doobe-do.”
b. “be boppa honk.” d. All of the answers shown here.
13. References to death in madrigal poetry were usually understood as
a. erotic. c. nonsexual.
b. literal. d. suggestions of faith.
14. Monteverdi’s composed works included
a. opera. c. Masses.
b. nine books of madrigals. d. All of the answers shown here.
15. The madrigal was the most important secular genre during the
a. fourteenth century. c. Middle Ages.
b. sixteenth century. d. seventeenth century.
16. Popular topics for madrigal poetry included
a. love and unsatisfied desire. c. politics.
b. humor and satire. d. All of the answers shown here.
TRUE/FALSE
1. Only professional musicians performed secular music during the Renaissance.
2. During the Renaissance, the study of a musical instrument was considered improper for ladies.
3. The two most important genres of Renaissance secular music were the chanson and the madrigal.
4. Italian madrigalists set words such as weeping, trembling, and dying with great expression.
5. The text of Monteverdi’s madrigal Si ch’io vorrei morire has levels of meanings, some of which are erotic.
6. England adopted the Italian madrigal and developed it into a native form.
7. Unlike Italian madrigals, Fair Phyllis has no word-painting.
8. Music that directly reflects the meaning of the words is called word-painting.
9. The madrigal literature presents a vivid panorama of Renaissance thought and feeling.
10. The madrigal was developed by French composers.
11. Monteverdi based his first great opera masterwork on Orfeo, the famous Greek myth about the fall of Troy.
12. Monteverdi asserted that the text should follow the strict rules of harmony and counterpoint.
13. Madrigals written by English composers often included refrain syllables such as “fa la la.”
14. During the Renaissance, most prosperous homes had a lute or a keyboard instrument.
15. John Farmer and Claudio Monteverdi frequently collaborated on the writing of madrigals.
ESSAY
1. Describe the changes in secular music during the sixteenth century. What are the principal genres? How did these musical genres
differ from their counterparts of the fifteenth century?
2. Describe the differences between Italian and English madrigals. Give an example of each.
3. How did Renaissance composers achieve a union of words and music? Give an example.
4. Discuss how Monteverdi and Farmer utilize word-painting in their madrigals. Provide specific examples.