Entra in questi occhi lassi

The poet implores his beloved to enter his weary eyes, seeing them as a celestial repose from which she has often passed into his heart. He assures her that within his eyes she will witness the burning fire and torments of a Stygian sorrow, but also find a sweet resting place and ultimate desire. This Italian secular madrigal, for SATTB voices, vividly portrays the lover's plea for solace and the intensity of his emotions, as expressed in Giovanni Battista Strozzi's poetry from 1593. Dragoni crafts a rich and complex sound world for these evocative words, characteristic of the mature Renaissance madrigal tradition.