Connection Between Baroque Music and Architecture Through Monteverdi

In order to argue my position on the connection between Baroque music and architecture, I will use Claudio Monteverdi's Cruda Amarilli. In this madrigal, Monteverdi broke the rules of handling dissonance in order to "express the text more forcefully, inaugurating what he later called a new, second practice, better suited to moving the affections" (Hanning 179). Let's take a listen...

Just by listening to the piece, you can hear how the dissonance creates a bitter, tense 

over tone to the piece. The text translates to english as "Cruel Amaryllis, who with your very

name teach bitterly of love, alas! Amaryllis, than the white privet flower paler and more 

beautiful, but deafer than the asp and fiercer and more elusive. Since by speaking I offend

you, I shall die in silence" (Burkholder 378). Now take a look at the first few measures...

In this excerpt you can see the dissonances and breaking of conventional counterpoint. "For 

example, in the second measure the bass skips down to E, creating a seventh against the canto"

(Burkholder 378). Monteverdi's dissonances can be rationalized as embellishments, the key to 

the Baroque period. Everything was embellished from naves and frescos to madrigals and the first

operas.