Eran sì chiari alla mia donna

When the sun's rays shone so brightly around my lady, they set my heart alight. At midnight it seemed like midday, and at midday, a sun more lovely than any that day. Love swears that there has never been one like her, from the rich Ganges to the Tagus, nor in heaven among its riches. This Italian madrigal for SATTB voices captures the Petrarchan conceit of comparing the beloved to the sun, a common theme in Renaissance secular part-music. Dragoni's setting vividly illustrates the text's hyperbole, creating a rich and expressive sound world suitable for a formal concert setting or a gathering of connoisseurs.