Analysis On The Diversity Of Monteverdi's Madrigal

Monteverdi is an important European musician. He is also the bridge linking the Renaissance of music and art in Europe with the Baroque period. His creations involve vocal music, opera, instrumental music, madrigal and many other fields. Madrigal is the musical genre that puts through his whole life. There are twelve volumes (about 250 pieces) of these works exiting today. His madrigals have broad style, showing the diversity and impact greatly on the late opera, vocal music and instrumental music.This paper tries to use the representative madrigal of Monteverdi as the starting point to make a comprehensive analysis about the diversity showed by the theme, musical style, social function and other aspects of Monteverdi's madrigals. Moreover, it deeply explores the reasons for the formation of the diversity from the external conditions, namely, musical theory of Baroque period, manufacturing of musical instrument and the development of musical printing industry, as well as the intrinsic motivation-Monteverdi's inherent musical aesthetic values, liberal thoughts, the influences of double cultures and his rough life experience. Finally with the author's power, this paper analyzes the follow-up impact of the diversity of Monteverdi's madrigal.Madrigal in 16-century Italy experienced early, middle and late stages. Claudio Monteverdi was an composer in the late stage. Monteverdi's madrigal writing course could be divided into three stages: Cremona Period, Mantua Period and Venetian Period. From Cremona Period to Venetian Period, Monteverdi's madrigal writing became more and more and more mature in technique and his wring style broke out tradition. His madrigals created in late stage were called modern madrigal. Monteverdi's madrigal fully reflected the change and development of musical style from European Renaissance to Baroque Period, presenting the diversity.The diversity of Monteverdi's madrigal is presented by the following aspects:the first one is the diversity of main idea. The themes of traditional 16-century Italian madrigal were simple. And many madrigals chose love story as their themes. Love, peace and war were the three themes of Monteverdi's madrigal, which refracted the spiritual thoughts interwoven by humanism and religion. The second is the diversity of madrigal style. His madrigals represented the clear, elegant, relaxed, happy, serious and sorrowful tone with styles, such as, chorus, concerto and dramatic conflicts etc.There are several reasons for the formation of diversity of Monteverdi's madrigal. And among them, the development of the social musical aesthetic theory, instrument and musical printing provided external conditions for the formation of idyllic diversity. But his aesthetic value that the first is lyrics, music is the second one was the root reasons for the diversity of his works. He emphasized that intonation and rhythm must serve lyrics and that music must arouse audience's emotions. In addition, the dual impact of humanistic and religious spirit, the rough path in life, frustration in career, his liberal attitude, his receptivity to new ideas and willingness to absorb popular new elements were also the main reasons for the formation of his idyllic diversity.The diversity revealed in the diversity of Monteverdi's madrigal left broad impacts on the subsequent European opera, instrumental music and vocal music. Take Cavalli, Monteverdi's student, for example. In Cavalli's madrigal, he retained Monteverdi's exciting style.The author firmly believes that the understanding of the diversity in Monteverdi's madrigal will give significant helps for us to understand Monteverdi himself, his works and the dynamic development of music culture between European Renaissance and Baroque Period.