Che debb'io far?

Bartolomeo Tromboncino sets a heart-wrenching Petrarchan sonnet in this secular Italian madrigal. The text expresses profound grief and a desire for death following the loss of a beloved, whose passing has extinguished all joy and hope. The poet laments that his heart has died with his lady, and urges Love to consider his suffering. He feels that their shared life has been shattered, likening it to a ship wrecked on a rock, with the sun suddenly extinguished. This SATB setting captures the intense sorrow and despair of the words, conveying the poet’s absolute devastation at his loss.