Chi brama

Alessandro Striggio's Chi brama is a secular Italian madrigal for five voices (SAAAB). The music unfolds with a rich, interwoven texture, each voice contributing to the overall dramatic effect. The text expresses an intense and paradoxical longing, describing a desire for contradictory states: to be cold in intense heat, to burn through winter nights and days, and to be eternally bound by suspicion and fear. It speaks of a constant inner sorrow, a yearning for envy, war, and every other trouble, and to experience all the evils of hell. The madrigal vividly portrays a soul tormented by an unrequited, tyrannical love, where the beloved is more enemy than friend, a cruel master who leaves his loyal subjects blind and unloved.