Come la notte

Cipriano de Rore’s secular Italian madrigal Come la notte captures the changeable nature of emotions. The text compares the fleeting intensity of a flame at night to the lover’s changing feelings: fear assails when the beloved departs, but hope returns with their presence. This SAATB setting is ideal for a skilled chamber choir, its intricate vocal lines and rich harmonies reflecting the text’s dramatic shifts. The music ebbs and flows with the poetry, creating a vivid sonic picture of the speaker’s inner turmoil and eventual solace. It would make a compelling programme centrepiece for a concert of Renaissance polyphony.