- For the musical form of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, see Madrigal.
The Trecento
Madrigal is an
Italian musical form of the 14th century. It is quite distinct from the
madrigal of the Renaissance and early Baroque, with which it shares only the name. The madrigal of the Trecento flourished ca. 1300 – 1370 with a short revival near 1400. It was a composition for two (or rarely three) voices, sometimes on a pastoral subject. In its earliest development it was simple construction: Francesco da Barberino in 1300 called it a "raw and chaotic singalong".