There were folk - songs and dance
at one extreme and, at the other, ecclesiastical polyphony for voices,
the madrigal. Ecclesiastical polyphony could be as complicated and
profound as folk - song was direct and simple. Most composers in
the Middle Ages were also literary men or clerics. In Shakespeare's
day there was an increasing tendency for the professional man of
letters and musician to become distinct. The madrigal, which became
largely a middle class entertainment, derived from the church music
but treated the style in a more lively and more immediate form.
Madrigals aimed at expressing a general mood rather than particular
and personal experience. This deep love for music was linked to
a love of dances.
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