Stile concitato

History#

The earliest description of stile concitato comes from the foreword to Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi (“Madrigals of war and love”), Claudio Monteverdi’s eighth and final book of madrigals, published in 1638. Monteverdi wrote the following: I have reflected that the principal passions or affections of our mind are three, namely, anger, moderation, and humility or supplication… The art of music also points clearly to these three in its terms “agitated,” “soft,” and “moderate” (concitato, molle, and temperato). In all the works of former composers I have indeed found examples of the “soft” and the “moderate,” but never of the “agitated.” Monteverdi developed the musical style of stile concitato to represent the human emotion of agitation. He considered Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, one of the pieces from Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, to be the first instance of stile concitato. Stile concitato is represented musically in Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda through the rapid repetition of sixteenth notes.