Dardi d'amor

Dardi d’amor paints a vivid scene of love's arrows, as described in its Italian lyrics. The singer laments that the beloved's eyes are both the source of death and life, a powerful paradox. This secular canzona for SATTB voices, by Teodoro Riccio, explores this theme of passionate, perhaps unrequited, love. The text, which speaks of being slain by love and then revived, suggests a dramatic and emotional delivery. Riccio's setting would have been typical of secular part-music enjoyed in Renaissance Italy, offering a rich texture for an accomplished choir to interpret the text's complex sentiments.