I' temo di cangiar

Luca Marenzio's I' temo di cangiar is a secular madrigal for SAATTB voices, sung in Italian. The music opens with a sense of yearning, the texture carefully crafted to reflect the text's theme of enduring love and devotion. The composer explores the interplay between the voices, creating moments of both exquisite tenderness and profound expressive depth. The text speaks of a lover's fear of change, a devotion so strong that the eyes themselves betray a true pietà, as the beloved is depicted as an idol carved in living laurel. For seven years, the singer has moved from shore to shore, sighing, day and night, in heat and snow, his commitment unwavering.