Although the English madrigal has been fairly described by John Rutter as a completed historical form, its younger sibling the partsong still flourishes in the hands of sympathetic composers like Edmund Jolliffe, who can clothe secular texts with music a cappella that fits their sentiments like a glove.

In fact John Donne’s verse, though of a later period, receives a setting that might even be described as madrigalean in its sensitive response to verbal rhythm and feeling.

And for anyone...