Gravi pene in amor

Marco Antonio de Pordenon's Gravi pene in amor vividly expresses the profound suffering that love can inflict, a theme the composer himself claims to have experienced extensively. The Italian text speaks of enduring these hardships and feeling them so acutely that they can be spoken of as if by learned experience. The composer asserts that if he has declared before, both in voice and in writing, that one ill is light while another is bitter and fierce, then listeners should believe his true judgment. This secular madrigal for SATTB voices offers a passionate and introspective exploration of unrequited or difficult love, characteristic of the genre.