A distinct departure from the madrigal of Willaert, and one in which historians are wont to see a direct step toward the opera, is seen in the descriptive, or dramatic, madrigals of Allessandro Striggio (b. Mantua, 1535) and Orazio Vecchi. The descriptive element had indeed invaded song composition much earlier. The French 'program _chansons_,’ notably those of Clement Jannequin, who attempted to reproduce in vocal music the song of birds and the noise of battle, were, perhaps, the most remarkable phenomena of this kind. Though not an Italian, Jannequin deserves notice here because of his influence in this direction. He was a pupil of Josquin and, besides a varied lot of sacred works, issued a great number of _chansons_ which became popular as bravura pieces in instrumental form, being printed in Italy without texts in 1577 (_partite in caselle per sonar_). His great chansons (_inventions_), which stamp him _the_ programmistic composer of the sixteenth century, include _La bataille_ (on the battle of Marignano [1515]), _La guerre_, _Le caquet des femmes_ (women’s gossip), _La jalousie_, _La chasse au lièvre_ (rabbit hunt), etc., etc. A curious example is the excerpt reprinted in our supplement. In it the cuckoo’s call, the nightingale’s song, the notes of the thrush and other sounds of nature’s music are introduced simultaneously.[112] Verdelot’s realistic description of the chase, Eckhard’s tumult of the people at St. Mark’s and Striggio’s dispute of the washerwomen at the brook are additional instances in which vocal music appropriated the dramatic elements of action, movement--the passing shapes and the play of colors. In the hands of these composers, the madrigal became a vehicle for humorous or whimsical moods no less than for the expression of tender sentiments, or 'a charming, picturesque and dramatic symphony,’ for which Romain Rolland finds an analogy in the 'Romeo and Juliet’ symphony of Berlioz. Such are Orazio Vecchi’s _La selva di varia ricreatone_ (1590), 'Musical Banquet’ (1597) and _Amfiparnasso_. They are in reality series of madrigals which follow out a continuous idea as in dramatic action, their text comprising the dramatic forms of monologue and dialogue, but, curious as it may seem, never set to music in the way that seems natural to us--as solos, duets, etc.--but always in madrigalesque polyphony. Thus, instead of having the singers represent the different characters of the piece, the actual practice was to have the monologue sections sung by all of them, while the dialogue would be carried on between sets of two or three singers each. For example, if Isabella (in _Amfiparnasso_) speaks to her lover Lucio, a group of three voices represents each of them; Isabella is characterized by a soprano and supported by an alto and a 'quinto,’ Lucio represented by a tenor sustained by a quinto and a bass. Never did it occur to the composer, even when the text was