Andianne à premer latte

Imagine a pastoral springtime scene, with shepherds and shepherdesses exchanging verses in a spirit of playful, unrequited love. This secular Italian madrigal by Claudio Saracini captures just such a moment. The text speaks of milking, gathering flowers, and the sweet longing for affection. The shepherdess asks her lover, Tirsi, for milk and flowers, but he declares that his only desire is for the milk found in her breast and the rose-like lips she possesses. This solo madrigal, written for a single soprano voice, would have been sung in the intimate settings of aristocratic courts during the Renaissance, accompanied by instruments or other voices.