Fui preso, fui ferito

Tomaso Pecci's Fui preso, fui ferito paints a vivid scene of passionate emotional turmoil. The text speaks of being captured, wounded, burning, and freezing, but attributes this not to love itself, but to the powerful words and glances of the beloved. The poet, Annibale Pocaterra, describes how the sun-like lover's words held immense force, and their gentle gaze contained both ice and fire, a dart and a prison. This secular madrigal for SSATB voices captures the intense, often contradictory feelings experienced in the throes of affection, characteristic of the Italian madrigal tradition. Pecci's setting would have been part of a rich period of secular vocal music.