Come il ferir sia poco

Marco da Gagliano, a leading composer of the Florentine Camerata and exponent of the seconda prattica, here crafts a striking secular madrigal for SSATB voices. The text, by Giambattista Marino, depicts the scornful beauty of an archeress, whose cold gaze strikes like Jupiter's thunderbolts. Despite this icy assault, the singers express how their inner ardour is not quenched, but rather intensified by her mockery, turning their joy to tears and their ice to fire. This setting, published in Marino’s La Lira in 1618, showcases the dramatic and expressive possibilities of the Italian madrigal tradition at its height.