Damours me plains

In this poignant French chanson, the composer expresses a lover’s lament not for his beloved, but for himself. He longs for her and has sought her favour for a long time without success. He asks her to be an ally, to disarm his rival and grant him the happiness he desires. Cornelius Canis’s setting for five voices (soprano and four tenors and basses) captures the intimate and expressive nature of the text, creating a rich yet sensitive sound world appropriate for this Renaissance secular part-music.