All'hor che l'alba indora

Giovanni Battista de Bellis composed this madrigal for SSATB voices. It belongs to the rich tradition of secular Italian part-music from the Renaissance. The text, which speaks of seeing a beautiful, dark-complexioned woman at dawn, expresses the singer's confusion and inner darkness, comparing it to the fading night that still lingers in the daylight. The composer uses this vivid imagery to explore themes of love and inner turmoil, typical of the madrigal genre. The five-part texture allows for intricate polyphonic writing and rich harmonic colours, characteristic of the period's finest secular vocal music.