‘Con tante parolette, e dolci accenti’: Sweelinck and Italian lyrical poetry

Abstract

Secular vocal music was not the primary field of interest of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621). Nevertheless, the works he composed on French and Italian texts attest to his affinity with chanson and madrigal culture in the first decades of his career. With regard to Italian madrigals, none of his collections is solely comprised of texts in this genre. However, the Rimes françoises et italiennes (1612) contain more Italian (15) than French (13) songs, while several of his Italian compositions had already been published in anthologies. Since specific studies on Sweelinck’s Italian madrigals and their poetic sources are lacking, this article discusses works, poets and themes that have inspired or influenced Sweelinck’s Italian madrigals.