Madrigal dinners take musical journey to 17th-century Italy

(Nov. 18, 2003)--The UTSA Department of Music presents the madrigal dinner production, "Now, That's Italian: An Evening in Florence, 1600" at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5-6 and 2 p.m. Dec. 7 in the University Center Laurel Room (2.01.28) on the 1604 Campus. The production benefits music department programs.

The President's Special Performance is at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4, also in the Laurel Room. The special performance benefits the UTSA Music Scholarship Fund.

Pictured are student performers from this year's madrigal dinner production (from left to right): Rosalie Osborn, Lisa Arnold, Yvette Garza and Elizabeth Johnson.

The production is set in Florence, Italy in the 17th-century when the country's outstanding Renaissance composers and poets -- Caccini, Monteverdi, Peri and Rinuccini -- sought a new dramatic voice in music. It is a story of a struggling playwright whose opera and love interest are stolen by his rival. Guests will witness unbridled passion, unrequited love, humor and artistic rivalry in the operatic production.

According to PageWise, madrigal music dates to 14th-century Italy as a two- or three-line verse supported by music. The Italian madrigal of the 16th century consisted of four to six parts and twelve lines of lyric verse with themes of love, desire, humor, satire, politics or pastoral scenes.

Madrigals were Renaissance in thought and feeling, and a secular expression of an aristocratic age. In some instances, the top part was sung with contrasting parts played on instruments.

Italian madrigals were recognized as the beginning of "word painting," a combining of text and music to create a feeling. English composers adopted the Italian madrigal and developed it into a style reflecting the Elizabethan age. Original English madrigals were more upbeat than the Italian madrigals, festive and often humorous. The English madrigal introduced nonsensical syllables such as "fa la la."

Both Italian and English madrigals fostered new techniques in combining poetic texts and harmonic melody, paving the way to the Baroque period of music and a time of opera taking music to greater dramatic heights.

Tickets to the production include a catered dinner. Admission to the Dec. 4 President's Special Performance is $125 per person; Dec. 5 and 6 performances, $40 and $50; and Dec. 7 performance, with a lighter dinner, $25 and $35. Doors open 30 minutes before the performance.

For reservations, call the Department of Music at 210-458-4355.

--Tim Brownlee