short lines drawn underneath or above the staff for notes too high or too low to appear on the staff madrigal: a name of uncertain derivation for two types of early vocal music, one of the 14th, the other of the 16th century, both of Italian origin. The 14th century madrigal is in a fixed form, consisting of two or three short stanzas with identical music an a final one with different music. Usually the term refers to the 16th century type, which is based on love lyrics having no set form and is composed in four or, more often, five voices in an imitative style but often interspersed with homophonic passages