Like many Englishmen I had sung madrigals for pleasure – usually late at night with friends, after several glasses of wine. While these madrigals have their charm, and many are extremely beautiful, I found, as I began an extended exploration of the madrigal as a creative venture, that the richest source lies in the Italian Renaissance.In 1998 I embarked on a project to write a series of madrigals, eventually deciding to collect them in ‘books’ in the manner of Italian madrigalists, such as Monte...