Anima mea liquefacta est

Guillaume Dufay, a leading composer of the early Renaissance, wrote this motet for TTB voices. The Latin text, drawn from the Song of Songs, speaks of the soul yearning for its beloved, its intense longing likened to a physical melting. The soul searches and calls out, but finds no immediate response. The text then describes the beloved being wounded by the guards of the city and stripped of their cloak, before appealing to the daughters of Jerusalem to tell the beloved of their love-sickness. Dufay’s setting masterfully conveys the deep spiritual and emotional intensity of this sacred text.