Claudio Monteverdi’s Dolcissimo uscignolo (“Sweet nightingale”) sets a pastoral poem by Giambattista Guarini, whose texts Monteverdi often chose for their emotional immediacy. From the Eighth Book of Madrigals (1638), this piece shows how Monteverdi highlights the poem’s imagery — especially the nightingale’s gentle song — through expressive melodic writing and clear text-driven gestures. Sung here by Erica Schuller, Amia Langer, Michael Skarke, Thomas O’Neill, and Enrico Lagasca with Ars Lyrica