In Thomas Weelkes's first madrigal book, Madrigals to 3. 4. 5. &6 Voyces (London, 1597), the five- and six-voice works borrow both text and music from Salamone Rossi's Primo libro delle canzonette a tre voci of 1589. Numbers 13 through 18 of Weelkes's madrigal book clearly borrow from numbers 7, 6, 2, 11, 15, and 19 of Rossi's book respectively. From Rossi, Weelkes primarily borrows thematic points, melodic contours, rhythms, and textures for use in his own compositions. For example, in Weelkes's No. 16, Lady, our spotless feature, the homophonic texture and chanson-like rhythm of Rossi's No. 11, Donna, il vostro bel viso, are clearly present in the work's opening. These borrowings show a progression of maturity on the part of the English composer. Numbers 16 and 13 demonstrate a dependence on the model and unimaginative solutions, while numbers 15 and 17 reset the derived ideas more convincingly, and numbers 14 and 18 clearly show that Weelkes has not only fully mastered the borrowed material but also surpassed his model. Moreover, his later Italian version of Donna, il vostro bel viso in his Ayeres or Phantasticke Spirites for Three Voices of 1608 shows a dependency on his own English version of the text from 1597 rather than a direct relationship with Rossi's original. Weelkes's reuse of Rossi's canzonette demonstrates a progressive compositional maturity in his manipulation of borrowed material, culminating in a reworking of his earlier attempts at modeling.

Works: Thomas Weelkes: Madrigals to 3. 4. 5. &6. Voyces (110-17), Lady, your spotless feature (111), Your beauty it allureth (111), Those sweet delightful lilies (112), If thy deceitful looks (113), What haste, fair lady (113), Ayeres or Phantasticke Spirites for Three Voices (115-17), Donna, il vostro bel viso (115), I bei ligustri e rose (115).

Sources: Salamone Rossi: Primo libro delle canzonette a tre voci (110-17), Donna, il vostro bel viso (111); Thomas Weelkes: Madrigals to 3. 4. 5. &6. Voyces (115-17)), Lady, your spotless feature (115).

Index Classifications: 1500s, 1600s

Contributed by: Randal Tucker, Elizabeth Elmi