WAH!!!!!

i just had a "wah" moment and I thought to share it with a few fellow music nerds. :)

I'm analysing the sixth madrigal in Palestrina's spiritual madrigal cycle Le Vergini. Petrarch, author of the cycle's text Vergine bella, is comparing the Virign Mary to physical light, like stars/suns/etc. Each madrigal in the cycle begins by describing the virgin a different way. The sixth mad starts with Vergine chiara, or Virgin bright. Now, we all know how Palestrina doesn't use madrigalisms to a great extent, and when he does, it's very subtle.

Here's the "wah." You ever been blinded by the sun? You know how the sun's rays extend from all directions, radial symmetry thing going on? I look at the score, and on the word "chiara," Palestrina has a field day with the melismatic outer voices going opposite directions, literally expanding the texture. The inner voices are stable, but then again, the text they have does translate as "stable." So a bright star goes WAH, and the music on that page goes wah! (Wimbo expands arms).

That's my theory after a long day with Palestrina. WAH! Spread your WAH with the world!

Wimbo