Filli mentre ti miro

A moment of intense reflection, perhaps in a quiet garden or intimate salon, is evoked by Pomponio Nenna's madrigal Filli mentre ti miro. This five-voice setting for SSATB explores the complex emotions of love. The Italian text speaks of a lover drinking in the light from their beloved's eyes, finding themselves overwhelmed by sweetness and a love that simultaneously kills and enchants. Nenna's sophisticated polyphony captures the poignant contrast between the rapture and the pain of unrequited or overwhelming affection, characteristic of the secular Renaissance madrigal tradition.