Cando pinso al turmendo

Andrea Gabrieli’s Canto pinso al turmendo is a four-part Italian madrigal. The opening textures are imitative, with voices entering in succession. The music vividly reflects the text’s dramatic narrative of a lover’s despair. He laments the pain of unrequited love and the futility of his attempts to win his beloved’s favour. The lover’s anguish escalates to the point where he wishes to strike his beloved’s face with his sword, even while admitting that he dies from sorrow. This is a powerful example of the secular part-music of the late Renaissance, in which expressive word-painting was paramount.