Questioning the genesis of the madrigal comedy and its connections with the cultural traditions and ideas of the renaissance humanism
Authors:   Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Korobeinikov Alexander S. , Chaplya Tatiana V. ,   Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University
Published: February 2023

In order to understand such a unique phenomenon of European civilization as the Renaissance, it is necessary to immerse yourself in its musical culture, which reflects the complex and often contradictory processes taking place in the inner world of a person of that era. Under the influence of these processes, a wide variety of qualitatively new musical forms was formed, which served as the basis for interesting phenomena of musical culture, reflecting the characteristic traits of the Renaissance. Among these forms is the Italian madrigal comedy, a genre that lies at the intersection of musical and stage arts, which has not been sufficiently studied to date. In this regard, it is of interest to study its genesis and connection with elements of folk musical culture. Several samples of medieval prose could be considered the origins of the madrigal comedy -in particular, related to the tradition of the Italian novella. Among the examples of these, originally oral, genres was the 13th-century digest “Il novellino”, echoes of which can also be found in the typically Renaissance “Decameron” by G. Bocaccio, which reflects the characteristic features of the secularization of European society, including the enjoyment of man on earth existence. The novella itself is a kind of “construction genre”, opening up wide opportunities for improvisation - which makes it related to late theatrical genres. A mature literary genre that influenced the formation of the madrigal comedy was the farce that has existed since the 15th century. The difference between a farce and a novella is a pronounced stereotyping of certain characteristic features of the components of the Renaissance society (such as social classes, estates and professions), which can be considered as a phenomenon that precedes the appearance of masks of the madrigal comedy. The musical basis of the madrigal comedy was based on medieval song genres, which have a simple, lively and energetic harmony, which corresponds to the spirit of love of life and fun, embodied in the ideals of the Renaissance. The typology of madrigal comedies includes at least two types. The first is the simplest, representing a thematic cycle of madrigals without a pronounced stage component (“Caccia” by A. Striggio). A mature type, including independent solo parts, division into parts and a pronounced storyline, is reflected in the work of A. Banchieri and O. Vecchi. O. Veechi's comedy, the “Amphiparnassus”, among other things, also has pronounced farcical features, reflected in the vivid images of the heroes of the work. The short life of the madrigal comedy, apparently, was associated not so much with its content, but with the absence of a pronounced visual component, which did not allow it to find a response among the people and significantly reduced its competitiveness with the new visual genre of opera. Thus, the madrigal comedy can be considered as an organic combination of elements of traditional Italian culture and the ideas of Renaissance humanism, and its pronounced national flavor reflects the basic trends in the musical culture of the Renaissance.