Ardo sì, ma non t'amo (2nd setting, the other may be found here.)

This arresting Italian madrigal for SATTB voices opens with a compelling texture, the voices engaging in a complex interplay that perfectly captures the text's conflicted emotion. The composer Gioseffo Ascanio crafts a dramatic musical setting of this poem by Guarini. The words speak of burning passion, but assert that the ardour is not for love, but for disdain, directed at a treacherous and pitiless beloved. The music reflects this powerful sentiment, with the outer voices often driving towards dissonant climaxes before resolving, mirroring the singer's assertion of a heart now healed from unworthy love and burning only with scorn.