<P> A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras . Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six . It is quite distinct from the Italian Trecento madrigal of the late 13th and 14th centuries, with which it shares only the name . </P> <P> Madrigals originated in Italy during the 1520s . Unlike many strophic forms of the time, most madrigals were through - composed . In the madrigal, the composer attempted to express the emotion contained in each line, and sometimes individual words, of a celebrated poem . </P> <P> The madrigal originated in part from the frottola, in part from the resurgence in interest in vernacular Italian poetry, and also from the influence of the French chanson and polyphonic style of the motet as written by the Franco - Flemish composers who had naturalized in Italy during the period . A frottola generally would consist of music set to stanzas of text, while madrigals were through - composed . However, some of the same poems were used for both frottola and madrigals . The poetry of Petrarch in particular shows up in a wide variety of genres . </P>

Though it began as an italian genre the madrigal