ABSTRACT
MONTEVERDI'S inclusion of Marenzio in his list of composers of the seconds prattica is recognition of his place among those who initiated a radical reform of musical language at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th. The seconda prattica expounded by Monteverdi favoured the primacy of orazione over armonia, reversing what he perceived as being the priorities of the prima prattica. The new claims of rhetoric and the importance granted to the poetic text not only transformed the madrigal but also had an impact on the younger generation of poets— Guarini, Chiabrera, Marino—who, resolving to meet the aspirations of these new aesthetic trends, set out to enchant and astonish die public with their virtuoso technique and use of surprise, audacious similes and paradox. The early madrigal presented very few technical difficulties from the standpoint of performance. The madrigal was the polyphonic vocal genre par excellence in this period.
