Jacques Arcadelt mostly worked in Florence, Venice and Rome. He became a prolific madrigal composer. He published four collections in 1539, including the classic “Il bianco e dolce cigno.” The story is about a desperate swan and the song just before dying. The poet dies and cries but happily. It was written for four voices. You need to sing it in an expressive and refined way to express the feelings between death and rebirth.
