Da begl'occhi ch'adoro

Giovanni Battista Locatello’s Da begl'occhi ch'adoro is a delightful example of secular Italian madrigal part-music. Scored for SSATB, it offers a rich sonic palette for exploring the interplay between the five voices. The text expresses a lover’s distress as he witnesses tears falling from his beloved’s beautiful eyes, likening them to pearls. He feels he is dying from this sweet torment, yet as he gazes upon her, love tells him he is blind because her heart is made of stone, incapable of shedding tears unless it is turned to stone itself. The setting captures the emotional turmoil of the words, with moments of tenderness and exquisite pain.