Gia Piansi Nel Dolore Analysis

Gia Piansi Nel Dolore, a madrigal composed by Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa and published in 1613, is a piece that displays several features of the time period in which it was composed. Three of these features found in this piece as well as Reinaissance music are polyphony, the absence of physical instruments, and the lack of complexity of the music. Polyphany is easy to observe, as there are four different vocal parts and each is different. This was standard at the time, as there was not a concrete model for writing music and secular music such as this piece, was made for the average citizen. The absence of physical instuments is also easy to observe, as it is easy to hear this piece is all vocal, and the sheet music is clearly written with

Polyphany and the complexity of the music show that during the Renaissance, new ways were forming so that music could becme more complex, but it was being held back, due to the main use of vocals in music. Without instrumentation, music was restricted to only what the voice could do. During the Renaissance, people were focused on vocals due to topics like humanism being popular in the academic world. The extreme focus on the human form led to the neglect of instrumentation within music. Secular music becoming popular was also an effect of the Renaissance, as people became less invested in the church, due to a growing rise in movements like the Protestant Reformation. Sp, they became more invested in ideas outside of the church, such as poetry and

The music is in cut time, up until this measure and then Gesualdo changes this to three beats per measure for these two specific measures. Each voice part in this section is singing the same words, with the exact same timing. This signals to the audience that this line is very important, as it is easier to hear the words being sung when all voice parts are singing together. “Omai si cangi in dolce,” meaning “Henceforth be turned to sweet” is the specific line Gesualdo wants to bring out in the song. This line of the poem can be seen as a turning point for the life of the author. He has stated in the lines before “let my troubles be gone, and my sad tears”, giving the reader the sense that his life was miserable before. However, now the author is saying his sadness is now being turned into something happy and