Donna, ben v'ingannate

This secular Italian madrigal by Costanzo Porta is for SSATB voices. It explores the paradoxical nature of love, where the singer claims to have been dead while in love, and only truly alive since leaving the beloved. The text suggests that living in suffering is a form of dying. Porta, a significant composer of the late Renaissance, crafts this piece with the rich vocal textures characteristic of the madrigal genre, making it suitable for a concert programme seeking to showcase expressive vocal writing and intricate polyphony.