Cor mio, deh, non languire

Sigismondo d'India's Cor mio, deh, non languire is a rich madrigal for SSATB voices. The music opens with an immediate sense of yearning, the voices intertwining to express the text's intense emotion. The composer skillfully uses the five parts to depict the singer's plea to their own heart not to languish, as it causes the soul to suffer and yearn. The words speak of hot sighs sent to a beloved, and the profound desire to offer one's own life to save the beloved's. This secular Italian work showcases d'India's mastery of word painting and affective expression, drawing the listener into the lament and the ultimate, paradoxical pain of living while the beloved suffers.