Madrigal

“ Long afterwards we occasionally meet with the word again, when a 17th or 18th century composer sets to some kind of accompanied singing a poem of madrigalesque character. But this does not indicate any continuation of the true musical history of the madrigal. ”

“ In Verse.—The definition given in the New English Dictionary, “a short lyrical poem of amatory character,” offers no distinctive formula; some madrigals are long, and many have nothing whatever to do with love. The most important English collection of madrigals, not set to music, was published by William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649) in his Poems of 1616. ”

“ The Recitative, ‘Ye sacred priests,’ was delivered with great judgment, and the following air, ‘Farewell!’ could not have been more delicately sung: it were, however, to be wished that the shakes, transmitted from one singer to another, could be lessened in number as they pass. And the cadence, another incumbrance, had better be at once repudiated; it is an ancient abomination, which now the English alone practise. Morley’s Madrigal is, both in melody and harmony, free as air—all hilarity, and not a glimpse of pedantry. ”

“ The madrigal, an Italian form (It. mandriale, madrigale, from mandra flock) , is a pastoral song, a rural idyl. The Italian madrigals of Petrarch, &c., are short, isometrical poems of eleven-syllable verses, consisting of two or three terzetti with different rhymes and two or four other rhyming verses, mostly couplets: a b c a b c d d, a b a b c b c c, a b b a c c d d, a b b c d d e e, a b b a c c c d d, a b a c b c d e d e, a b b c d d e e f f, a b b c d d e f f g g.
The English madrigals found in Sidney and especially in Drummond resemble the Italian madrigals only in subject ”

“ The English School.—The Madrigal never displaced the Folk-song in Germany or the Chanson in France, but it found a home in England, in which country a number of composers were developed whose best work is considered to be superior to that of their Italian predecessors. The period of fifty years, beginning with 1588, when the first collection of madrigals was published in London, is called the Madrigalian Era. The composers of prominence are: William Byrd, Thomas Morley, Thomas Weelkes, John Dowland, John Wilbye, Orlando Gibbons and Richard Edwardes. ”

“ It will be evident, however, that ‘the Seventeen’ stands for ‘the seventeenth,’ and that the set is that above described. Farmer's best-known composition is the madrigal ‘Faire Nimphs, I heard one telling,’ contributed to ‘The Triumphs of Oriana’ in 1601 [see East, Thomas] . The Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge contains two madrigals, not included in the collection of 1599, in Immyns's handwriting, ‘You pretty flowers,’ and ‘Thyrsis, thy absence,’ both for four voices, besides copies of some of the other compositions. ”

“ Not thousands, but tens of thousands of madrigals were composed in this period; it was the accepted medium for the expression of every poetic idea, every pretty sentiment. People sang madrigals at home and abroad, in society and for private pastime; in short, its popularity has not been surpassed even by the modern song. ”

“ Cf. his Varias poesías, Madrid, 1803-04, and see Ticknor I, 458 ff.
GUTIERRE DE CETINA. Another follower of Garcilaso. Like the latter he was a soldier, and distinguished himself in Italy. About 1550 he appears to have wandered as far as Mexico. Cetina cultivated the sonnet with great skill. His madrigals are famous. Cf. the ed. of his Obras, Seville, 1895; and see Salvi López, Un Petrarchista spagnuolo (1896) ; Ticknor I, 461 (with a verse translation of the first madrigal) . ”

“ By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals. ”

“ Its slender stems are thrown up in artistic sweeps towards the sky, no two making the same curve, and its crown of foliage spreads out into a bouquet of fronds, arranged by nature with a skill that exceeds the cunning of the human hand. When the sun has set and night is approaching the fire-flies swarm out and carry their scintillating lamps to their playground among the fronds.
Madras is well said to be 'a city of magnificent distances.' Not only are the roads long, but the private drives up to the houses are a considerable length. ”

“ The affection of these animals for their madrina saves infinite trouble. It is nearly impossible to lose an old mule, for, if detained several hours by force, she will, by the power of smell, like a dog, track out her companions, or rather the madrina ”

“ Here in Old Madras, in the midst of our soft blue mountains, you enter upon a land of sun and enchantment, you take your stand upon a carpet of flowers, and gaze across tropical forests, and rolling plains, to the far-away glittering sea! ”

“ There are numerous fables and stories about the owl, illustrating the popular dread of the bird. But like the owls in all other parts of the world, the Madagascar species are really public benefactors, by keeping down the number of rats and mice and other vermin; and yet their nocturnal habits, their large staring eyes, the “uncanny” ear-like feathers of some, and especially their unearthly screech, have all combined to make them objects of dread. One species of owl is really a beautifully coloured bird, its plumage being pale brown, spotted with silvery markings. ”

“ Densely wooded are all the intervening hill-sides with the fragrant laurel, tea-oak and many flowering shrubs interwoven with the glorious madroño, whose crown of bright-green leaves contrasts so pleasingly with its bark of brilliant scarlet—the madroño ought to be the favorite tree with the Fenian Brotherhood, who are so fond of seeing the green above the red. ”

“ And so it comes about that Spring has no joys for me as it has for others, and I hear the throstle’s liquid warble and the blackbird’s piping with a mute indifference, for throstle and blackbird, thanks to God, reproduce themselves each year, but this Madeira is the last of his race, splendidly sterile and icily null, and already we seem to detect in the blood of him the faint suspicion of tartness, which tells us that the end is nigh. The bloom of age is passing away ”

“ The Song But the Moorish influence is nowhere more apparent than in the Spanish singing. There is nothing European in that quavering lament, in those long-drawn and monotonous notes, in those weird trills. The sounds are strange to the ear accustomed to less barbarous harmonies, and at first no melody is perceived; it is custom alone which teaches the sad and passionate charm of these things. A malagueña is the particular complaint of the maid sorrowing for an absent lover, of the peasant who ploughs his field in the declining day. ”

“ MALAGA. VIEW FROM THE HARBOUR
If you ask me, "What is Malaga to-day?" I can reply with truth, "The noisiest town in Spain." Like all places in the south it is a babel of street-cries, only a little more so than any of the others. The seranos, or night-watchmen, disturb one's rest as they call out the hour of the night, or whistle at the street corners to their comrades. A breeze makes hideous the hours of darkness by the banging to and fro of unsecured shutters. ”

“ A great many more of the streets and districts of Madras have history in their names; but the few that we have dealt with suffice to exemplify the manner of the expansion of the city of Madras. We can picture the rustic suppliers crowding into the city to sell the produce of their fields; we can picture the humble weavers migrating into the city with their wives and their children, and with their pots and their pans and their quaint machines, in response to the Company's tempting invitation ”

“ A DEMON, A FUNERAL, AND SOME SNAKES.
One should keep oneself five yards from a carriage, ten yards from a horse, one hundred yards 1 from an elephant ; but the distance one should keep from a wicked man cannot be measured.–Sloka.
A marked feature in the south of India is its devil-worship. It is not noticeable in the town of Madras, although it exists there as well as elsewhere ; but in the south it strikes the eye at once. Village temples and wayside shrines abound by the side of the road and in out-of-the-way spots. ”

“ Every spring bursting from the hill side is a fountain of youth, although none have yet smoothed out certain crow tracks. The madrona, the most brillant of the forest trees, sheds its outer bark every season: when the outer rind curls up and falls off, the renewed tree has a shaft polished like jasper or emerald. When humanity begins to wilt, what a pity that the cuticle does not peel as a sign of rejuvenation! ”

“ When the dark wood became fully visible to them, Margaret observed that Baldabella seemed startled and uneasy, and frequently paused as if reluctant to proceed. But when, after an hour's walk, the sombre thick forest spread before them, half a mile across, the woman turned round to Margaret with trembling limbs, and said in a faltering voice, pointing to the forest, "Good miss, no go; bad spirit kill all people; good master, Baldabella, all die. ”

“ Opposite to Marufa the slaves stopped. Their master, careful that his shadow fell well away from the figure of the magician—for the shadow is one of the souls, so woe unto him who shall leave his soul in the hands of an enemy!—squatted gravely.
“Greeting, son of MTungo!”
“Greeting, son of MBusa!” returned Marufa.
Gravely they spat into each other’s palm, the sign of amity as they who exchange bonds of good behaviour inasmuch, as is well known, magic can be worked upon that which has been a part of the body as upon the body itself. ”

“ The madrague is a vast enclosure. The netting which forms the partitions of its chambers are sustained by buoys of cork on the surface, and kept down by heavy stones and other weights on the lower edge, and maintained in this position by cords, one extremity [598] of which is attached to the net, and the other is moored to an anchor. The madrague is intended to arrest the shoals of tunnies at the moment when they abandon the shore in order to return to the open sea. For this purpose a long alley or run is established between the sea-shore and the park or madrague. ”

“ My parents are American by birth, but I was born in Madras, where my father has lived for many years. Seeing in your son a true artist’s love and appreciation for everything beautiful, both in nature and art, I was anxious for him to see my home, which I may say is one of the most beautiful places in Madras. ”

“ Immediately commenced a high voice chanting:
“Take up, O Marufa, the wise, the pod of my soul!”
Then in the sight of every man Marufa bent upon his knees, muttering, and arose unharmed. Save for the slow turn of each head the better to follow the progress of the magician no limb nor muscle moved as in silence Marufa bore the like of which had never before been seen; a thing like unto a stone, having an ear almost as large and as erect as an angry elephant, the colour of a lion yet hairless. ”

“ The blue sea lazily kisses the beach and fishing-boats bask on its bosom.
In Malaga, for me, there are dark churches, with massive, tall pillars; the light falls softly through the painted glass, regilding the golden woodwork, the angels and the saints and the bishops in their mitres. The air is heavy with incense, and women in mantillas kneel in the half-light, praying silently. Now and then I come across an old house with a fragment of Moorish work, reminding me that here again the Moors have left their mark.
And in Malaga, for me, the women are more lovely than in Seville ”

“ At one moment the whole flock of doves caught the light in such a way that they all became invisible at once, dissolved in light and disappeared as salt dissolves in water. The next moment they flashed around, black and silver against the sun. They settled upon Magdalena’s arms and shoulders, ate from her hand. ”

“ The madrepores are quite as greedy as their wandering friends the anemones, and the presence of food stimulates them to more active efforts and the display of greater intelligence than we should give them credit for. Mr. Gosse relates a very amusing anecdote about feeding a madrepore. He once put a minute spider, as large as a pin's head, into the water, pushing it down with a bit of grass to a coral, which was lying with partially exposed tentacles. ”

“ Such is the love of it knowen to be toward that royal Star, being in the night time for desire of him as pensive and sad, they be shut or closed together; but at the noontime of the day fully spread abroad as if they with spread arms longed, or diligently attended, to embrace their Bridegroom. This Marigold is a singular kind of herb, sown in gardens as well for the pot as for the decking of garlands, beautifying of Nosegays and to be worn in the bosom. ”

“ I admire thee, Maharbal, far more than if thou hadst acceded to my request. In truth thou hast enacted a right noble part. But should we both live, I shall not forget it, and thou thyself wilt not regret it. Should we die, I feel convinced that all the gods who, in my vision, promised me a future reward, will recognise thy virtue, and bestow a far higher reward upon thee. Ay, Melcareth shall smile and shower his blessings upon thee. Tanais shall make thee happy with such a thrilling and heavenly love as never yet mortal hath known ”

“ During the hour when the soul is small and dwells timidly around the feet Marufa dozed in the cool of his hut; but later when it spread boldly out was he squatted once more in his favourite seat at the entrance to the compound, taking snuff and contemplating. The shadows grew from violet to blue; the small hens pecked for worms with avidity and the goats scratched with vigour in the cool. Patiently Marufa sat. At length that for which he had waited with a sound though primitive knowledge of psychology, came to pass. ”