Baciai per haver vita

Gemignano Capilupi was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance. Baciai per haver vita is a secular madrigal for SSATB voices, written in Italian. The text expresses a paradox of love: the singer sought life through a kiss from his beloved, whose beauty he equated with life itself. Instead, he found death, but a death so welcome that he could never have wished for a happier fate. He describes how, while kissing her sweet mouth and beautiful face, his heart was stolen away. The piece is a prime example of the sophisticated vocal part-music characteristic of the Italian madrigal tradition.