Description
The music of Carlo Gesualdo has always been a cornerstone of our repertoire, starting with his extraordinary Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday, which we performed at our first concert. Gesualdo’s music is well known for its extreme style, with chromatic melodies creating dissonant and disjointed harmonic progressions that illuminate the most melancholy aspects of the dark texts he set.
Moro, lasso, al mio duolo, is one of the most emotionally intense madrigals of the late Renaissance, composed in 1611 as part of his Sixth Book of Madrigals. Here, Gesualdo explores the agony of unrequited love and spiritual torment. The piece opens with a striking sequence of chromatic descents that vividly evoke the speaker’s emotional collapse. As the piece progresses, there is a subtle shift: a new kind of tension, moving from despair to a tortured hope.
© Owain Park 2025
Text:
Moro, lasso, al mio duolo,
e chi può dar vita,
ahi, che m’ancide e non vuol darmi aita!
O dolorosa sorte,
chi dar vita mi può,
ahi, mi dà morte!
I die, alas, in my suffering,
And she who could give me life,
Alas, kills me and will not help me.
O sorrowful fate,
She who could give me life,
Alas, gives me death.
Anonymous
