Ella non sa, se non invan dolersi
Staff Notation • Secular, Madrigals
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Ella non sa, se non invan dolersi by Andrea Gabrieli — Lyrics
About Ella non sa, se non invan dolersi
This expressive Italian madrigal by Andrea Gabrieli is set for three female voices (SSA). The text, an excerpt from a longer poem, depicts a lament. The speaker, having set sail, questions why she did not perish at sea, lamenting her fate and calling the heavens cruel. A character named Zerbin, observing her distress, feels more pain for her complaints than for his own enduring passion that brings him near death. He expresses to his beloved that after his death, she should still love him, as it is only leaving her that grieves him, not his impending demise. He would die content and fortunate if his final hour were spent within her embrace, but his cruel destiny forces him to leave her, uncertain into whose hands he must entrust her.