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esistance against that climb, the lovers’ straining for the orgasm that would allow them to “die”
and separate, and the fear of death and the reluctance to allow even joyous release to terminate
their unity. Casulana uses several musical devices to express the emotion and tension in this
piece. Through evaded cadences which underscore climactic climbs, sections of homophony
versus sections of imitation, and overlapping half-step movement, Casulana paints the pleasure
and pain of two lovers, torn between the desire to “die” and part, or to remain united in love.
The following sections represent my reading of “Morir non può il mio cuore,” which
illustrates how Casulana uses the above-mentioned musical devices to emphasize the importance
of unity between the sexes and deemphasize fleeting sexual gratification. I will offer my reading
by phrase units, explicitly pointing out instances of cadential movement, imitative or
homophonic texture variations, and important points of word painting, as well as how these
musical gestures illustrate Casulana’s message.
The first phrase encompasses mm. 1-3, with the words, “Morir non può il mio cuore”
(My heart cannot die). It begins with a solo entrance in the canto on “Morir.” Before the canto
reaches the second syllable of “morir,” the tenor enters on the same pitch, G, an octave below.
While the canto moves to B-flat, the tenor moves instead to a very distinctive E-flat, which lends
a feeling of longing to the opening statement. This feeling of longing is elaborated on throughout
the piece. The first phrase closes with a perfect cadence on “cuore” on the downbeat of m. 4;
however, the closure of this cadential movement is undermined by the fact that each voice ends
on the same pitch, an octave apart. The first phrase, therefore, has a symmetrical quality,
beginning with one voice and ending in unison. It provides a musical representation of
attempting to remove the heart (by expanding musical material) but being unable to do so (as the
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