Do our mother tongues influence the way we feel, think and express our emotions?

 

This question finds a striking echo at the dawn of the 17th century, when Italian composers – foremost among them Claudio Monteverdi – brought the art of the madrigal to its zenith. Through figuralism, the ‘ seconda pratica’ and an evermore harmonic approach, they imbued emotions with a musical power capable of transcending borders and revolutionising the history of European music. In Germany, Schein, Schütz and the Bach dynasty carried on this legacy, elevating figural music through the art of rhetoric, which reached its zenith with Johann Sebastian Bach.

 

Madrigalism is profoundly performative: the sung words do not merely describe the action; they bring it into being. We weep, we laugh, we sigh; the musical figures transform emotions into physical acts.

 

But what becomes of this expressiveness when the listener no longer understands the language of the text? What remains of the emotional link between the word and its meaning? And what happens when vernacular texts give way to the sacred?

 

In Madri(é)gale, whether in Italian, Latin or German, we will all be unconditionally equal in the face of figurative language. Whether we are expats, bilingual, adopted or simply lovers of languages, we will immerse ourselves in an exploration where sensuality, love, anger, joy and fear form the backdrop.

 

At a time when words can also divide, oversimplify or exclude, Madri(é)gale reminds us of their power to convey nuance, to listen and to forge connections. An invitation to cherish our languages – whether they are our mother tongues or not – and the emotions they enable.