Chi vol veder

Cipriano de Rore was a master of the Italian madrigal, and this SATTB setting of Petrarch's Canzoniere 248 is a prime example of his expressive style. The text speaks of a woman so beautiful and virtuous that she embodies all that nature and the heavens can produce. The poet urges the listener to see her before she is taken by death, for she alone possesses every virtue and beauty. Rore's music responds to the text's elevated praise with rich harmonies and intricate vocal interplay, reflecting the Petrarchan conceit that earthly beauty can be divine, and the poet's fear that such perfection is fleeting.