Deh perche non ho io

Giovanni Croce was a prolific composer of the late Renaissance, and this secular canzonetta for SST voices exemplifies the genre's light and graceful style. The Italian text expresses a passionate desire to love and adore a beloved with an abundance of hearts and souls, far more than one person could possess. The composer crafts music that mirrors this fervent plea, with vocal lines that intertwine and build in intensity. The text's yearning is captured through agile melodic writing and a sensitive setting that allows the clear expression of devotion, culminating in a final plea for the beloved to accept a single heart as a sign of true love.