Dainty fine bird

Orlando Gibbons’s Dainty fine bird is a secular madrigal for SSTTB voices. The music begins with a charming depiction of a caged bird, its delicate melody passed between the voices. This opening texture swiftly gives way to a more complex interplay as the text introduces the parallel between the bird’s confinement and the singer’s own captivity, both striving to please their respective captors. The composer’s skillful setting captures the poignancy of the lyrics, particularly the final, striking contrast between the bird that lives by singing and the singer who dies while singing.