Musicians went forward with the madrigal till they found themselves in Vecchi's day confronted with a genuine _reductio ad absurdum_.

It was only at this time that the experiments of the Florentines uncovered the profound musical law that the true dramatic dialogue is to be carried on by single-voiced melodies resting on a basis of chord harmony.
In the meantime, we must delay our approach to the golden era of the madrigal drama (when indeed it faced that _reductio_) to look for a moment at the representative work of a Mantuan master of the lyric comedy.

Alessandro Striggio, born in Mantua, about 1535, died in the same city in 1587, was for a time in the service of Cosimo, but for at least fifteen years of his life was known simply as a "gentleman of Mantua." Striggio was one of the most active and talented of the composers of his time, and his creations are found in both religious and secular fields.

He utilized instruments freely in connection with voices and his works give an excellent insight into the general condition of vocal composition in Italy in his day.

He became prominent as one of the early composers of intermezzi and he was employed also to write church music for wedding festivals.