Beginning just before the turn of the decade in 1548, this chapter considers the way music figured in the lives of the Este women in the second half of Ercole II’s reign. It analyses the contents of Tuttovale Menon’s Madrigali d’amore as an epithalamic gift from Renée of France to her daughter Anna d’Este, and introduces the figure of Bradamante, from Ariosto’s Orlando furioso, as a paradigm for Este women. It considers how the music of both Menon and Cipriano de Rore may reflect Renée’s patronage and her Protestant beliefs. The chapter also considers the role of music and theatre in the marriage celebrations for Anna d’Este, and investigates how the plays of Giraldi Cinzio written for the celebrations, Selene and Gli Antivalomeni, may contain the roots of new paradigms for dramatico-musical representations of women, particularly in lament. The madrigals of Francesco dalla Viola are considered for their usefulness to Suor Leonora d’Este, their dedicatee, as keyboard music. Bridging the decade at the other end, the first book of four-voice madrigals by Giaches de Wert is examined for elements of song and theatrical lament, and is found to conform to Ferrarese song style.