I fall, I fall

John Wilbye was one of the foremost composers of English madrigals in the late Renaissance. His five-part setting of I fall, I fall is typical of the genre, displaying a sensitive response to the text through word-painting and rich harmonic language. The five voices of SSATB are woven together to express the lover’s desperate plea. The text speaks of being overwhelmed by love, to the point of near death, and implores the beloved to stay and revive the speaker. Wilbye captures this sense of urgent passion and reliance on the beloved with a flowing melodic style and expressive harmonies that build to moments of intense feeling, before resolving in a final plea for salvation.