Claudio Monteverdi wrote music in most genres, including one of the very first operas (L'Orfeo), a wealth of sacred music, and nine books of madrigals. This piece appears in the last book of madrigals but was also published almost twenty years earlier in a collection of arias and duets. It is an accompanied piece, unlike most madrigals for three or more voices, with a "basso ostinato" or repeated bass. He also marks it "ciaconna" and the two are not at all exclusive, though a chaconne is more officially a repeating chord scheme rather than a bass line. The two voices are equal and have nearly identical ranges and a great deal of coloratura, representing Zephyr, the spring wind. Some may scoff and say larger voices like mine shouldn't sing Monteverdi, but I think that the two of me manage this piece quite well, thank you very much.