The Triumphes of Oriana


"I have adventured to dedicate these few discordant tunes, to be censured by the ingenious disposition of your Lordship's Honorable rare perfection, composed by me and others...I will not trouble your Lordship with to tedious circumstances, only I humbly entreat your Lordship (in the name of many) to patronage this work with no less acceptance than I, with a willing and kind heart, dedicate it." 

So begins The Triumphes of Oriana, a collection of twenty-five madrigals that Thomas Morley published in 1601. The collection was put together in honor of Queen Elizabeth I, who was sometimes referred to in poetry as "Orianna," and each madrigal ends with the words "Long live fair Oriana." The following is the text for the first piece in the collection, and it is written by Michael East: 

" 'Hence stars! Too dim of light, you dazzle but the sight, you teach to grope by night. See here the shepherds' star excelling you so far.' Then Phoebus wiped his eyes, and Zephyr cleared the skies, in sweet accented cries. Then sang the shepherds and Nymphs of Diana: Long live fair Oriana. "

Thomas Morley published this collection as a counterpart to the Italian IlTrionfo Di Dori, and the comparison of these two collections reflects the more elaborate musical structure of the English madrigal. 



The English madrigal was a style of music that was borrowed from the Italian madrigal. Composition of the English madrigal flourished from about 1590 to 1630. These pieces were written for a cappella ensembles, although they were sometimes accompanied by viols. Unlike the treble-dominated air, another genre of this period, the madrigal placed equal importance on each vocal part. In addition, the texts of these pieces was always in English. In describing the process of writing a madrigal in 1597 in his book Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke, Morley said, "If therefore you will compose in this kind you must possess yourself with an amorous humour...so that you must in your music be wavering like the wind, sometime wanton, sometime drooping, sometime grave and staid, otherwhile effeminate...The more variety you show the better you shall please."

Esteban Giron, Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University, 1997